Ethereum venture production studio ConsenSys published a report on its 2022 progress. The company outlined the closing of a $450 million financing round, which put its valuation at over $7 billion, and the growth of its products.
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The round was led by ParaFi Capital, as the report claims, and saw additional participation from Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Microsoft, Anthos Capital, Sound Ventures, and C Ventures, amongst others.
Non-custodial crypto wallet MetaMask, one of ConsenSys’ most popular products, experienced a 42% increase in its monthly active users in under 4 months. This metric stands at over 30 million and suggests users are still attracted to the DeFi and NFT sectors.
In America, the United States was one of the most active countries. Similarly, Brazil, the Philippines, Germany, and Nigeria occupy this position in their respective regions.
The Ethereum production studio claims the proceeds from this financial round will be used to increase its position in ETH. The company has been a long-term ETH bull and currently uses its funds to produce yield via different DeFi protocols and their staking mechanism.
Additionally, ConsenSys announced the creation of a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) and the launch of a MetaMask native token. This announcement has generated a mixed response from users.
As Bitcoinist reported, MetaMask received critics after Ethereum infrastructure provider Infura accidentally blocked users from Venezuela. The community began discussing alternative services, less vulnerable to single points of failure.
The creation of a MetaMaskDAO and a governance token seems like measures to address this issue. According to ConsenSys, MetaMask is moving towards a “progressive decentralization”.
Users have already begun discussing incentives, yield farming, the token’s ticker, and potential incentives. The team behind the wallet is yet to provide further details on the governance model and its new token.
Ethereum ConsenSys Under The Spotlight
Joseph Lubin, CEO at ConsenSys, emphasized the company’s capabilities to “capitalize” on different trends, such as DeFi protocols, NFTs, bridges, wallets, tokens launches, and more. In that sense, Lubin added the following on their newest financial round:
This view has resonated with our crypto native and growth investors in a Series D that will enable us to execute powerful growth strategies. This round takes in digital assets as well as fiat and converts immediately to ETH. Next round will be our ‘Series ETH’ where we will assist investors in getting fully crypto native to contribute ETH as a symbol of and commitment to the ongoing paradigm shift.
Lubin added that “a major redesign” for MetaMask, possibly hinting at the new token and DAO, could be deployed sometime in 2022. In addition, MetaMask will deploy new features, and functionalities that will enable it to connect with different blockchain networks and “account security schemes”.
As Bitcoinist reported, ConsenSys recently acquired wallet service provider MyCrypto. This company will be integrated with MetaMask to increase its security and improve its user experience across multiple devices.
Ben Forman, Founder at ParaFi Capital, said the following on their investment in the Ethereum studio and MetaMask as a prominent crypto product:
In particular, MetaMask is the gateway for over 30 million users to access web3 and DeFi applications every month, making it one of the most widely used blockchain products in the world for consumers and businesses.
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As of press time, ETH trades at $2,631 with a 3.5% profit in the last 24-hours.
