An errant governance post revealed that MetaMask is launching a native dollar-pegged stablecoin in partnership with fintech stalwart Stripe.
The stablecoin, called mmUSD, is expected to become the primary trading pair for the wallet provider’s suite of services, the proposal said. Stablecoin platform M^0 is also backing the initiative.
Details of the stablecoin first leaked on Tuesday evening after a governance proposal for lending giants Aave mentioned integrating mmUSD.
“mmUSD is intended to be the cornerstone asset for the MetaMask ecosystem, providing a neutral, highly liquid base currency that is natively integrated across MetaMask surfaces (Walle, swap, Buy/Sell, and Earn),” the now-deleted proposal reads.
Last week, MetaMask and Aave announced a new partnership that would let crypto wallet users earn yield via Aave’s stablecoin lending pools directly in the MetaMask mobile app.
A spokesperson for M^0 Foundation declined to comment. Stripe did not immediately respond for comment.
MetaMask is a product of Consensys, a blockchain development company.
Red-hot stablecoins
Stablecoins, cryptocurrencies that track the price of fiat currencies like the euro or the dollar, have gone from strength to strength this year.
The US recently passed landmark legislation into law in July that dictates how companies, including banks and non-banks, can legally issue their own stablecoins.
Investors signalled their fervour during the public listing of Circel, the industry’s second-largest stablecoin issuer. A day after CRCL went public, the stock soared a whopping 186% overnight.
Stablecoin’s promise of faster transfers and near-instant settlement has also turned heads among the largest fintech firms, too.
PayPal has its own $962 billion stablecoin, and Robinhood has long been in talks to launch its own dollar-pegged stablecoin.
Stripe’s largest acquisition to date was buying the stablecoin project Bridge for a deal worth north of $1 billion in 2024.
There have also been rumblings that Revolut, the UK neobank, is also working on a stablecoin. The fintech firm also inked a partnership with MetaMask last year.
Stablecoins are worth more than $268 billion, according to data from DefiLlama. Industry execs expect this figure to balloon over the next five years.
In April, Citigroup analysts predicted that the stablecoin market is on course to reach $3.7 trillion in value in five years.
