MetaMask Snaps aims to facilitate a “multichain future,” allowing the Ethereum-based wallet service to support non-native blockchains and tokens for the Web3 economy.
Details about the latest development addition to the ever-growing MetaMask ecosystem were revealed at the StarkWare Sessions event in Tel Aviv, Israel, in February 2023. Speaking to Cointelegraph Magazine editor Andrew Fenton, Alex Jupiter, senior product manager at MetaMask Snaps, revealed. details on blockchain synergy potential.
The last 18 months have seen Snaps development accelerate following the success of MetaMask Swaps, which brought token swap functionality to the service’s native browser extension. As Jupiter explains, interoperability is becoming increasingly important in the blockchain space:
“MetaMask has historically been an Ethereum wallet. We need to start moving beyond that. The future of multichain is very clear.
Snaps aims to create a permissionless ecosystem where developers can extend MetaMask in any way they want. Jupiter said the team is trying to create an environment where developers can use multiple application programming interfaces (APIs) from different blockchains to bring additional options to users’ core wallet experience.
Related: Blue fox: The rise of DeFi and the birth of MetaMask Institutional
MetaMask describes Snaps as a system that allows developers to extend the capabilities of wallet extensions. Snap is a program that runs in an isolated environment that manages the user’s wallet experience.
Extensive possibilities, quickly allowing the addition of new APIs to MetaMask, multi-blockchain protocol support and the ability to modify existing MetaMask functions using external APIs. According to Jupiter, Snaps should be able to integrate with most blockchain protocols:
“Technically, we can integrate everything. I’m sure there will be edge cases. We’ve managed to extend Bitcoin, managed to extend StarkNet. So it should work with anyone.
As Jupiter explains, MetaMask has created Snap Bitcoin (BTC) which allows users to interact with the protocol from a wallet extension. This is a more difficult proposition than putting together an Ethereum virtual machine-compatible chain like Polygon, but the end result is a wallet extension that can operate within a broad blockchain-based ecosystem:
“It basically means you don’t need to go anywhere and MetaMask can almost be the core of your Web3 experience.”
Improving Web3 functionality is another driving factor in the development of Snaps. Despite the onboarding of millions of users to Web3 through the MetaMask tool, Jupiter says that simple actions like entering a transaction can still be precarious:
“People have a problem with knowing if they’re entering into a transaction that’s safe.”
Jupiter believes Snaps can address this area, allowing third parties to create transaction insights and potentially warn users to enter questionable transactions with unintended consequences.
MetaMask Snaps are now available in the developer version of MetaMask Flask. Jupiter says its goal is to integrate Snaps with the main MetaMask by the end of 2023.