Solana wallet Solflare has launched a new feature enabling MetaMask users to manage their Solana portfolios directly from their existing MetaMask wallet.
For years, Solana has been incompatible with MetaMask—meaning crypto enthusiasts needed to create a new wallet to store SOL and NFTs issued on its network. Solflare believes the launch of the new feature will lower barriers of entry to Solana—and encourage Ethereum enthusiasts to give it a go.
"MetaMask is by far the most popular wallet out there, and the friction of installing a new wallet has stopped many potential Solana users,” Solflare co-founder Filip Dragoslavic said in a press release shared with Decrypt. He added that the integration “could be a game-changer,” introducing the biggest user base in Web3 to Solana’s “incredibly vibrant ecosystem of apps."
It’s a significant development because the two networks rely on different infrastructure, contributing to fragmentation that has blighted the blockchain sector.
The feature works by using a tool called "Solana Snaps" to create a connection with Ethereum and other EVM-compatible chains, enabling all assets to be managed in one place.
At its heart is an integrated bridge powered by DLN, a product from deBridge, which allows EVM assets to be ported to Solana. Following a "simple installation process," migrating EVM assets to Solana takes under a minute, according to the announcement.
Christian Montoya, the product lead at MetaMask Snaps, described the new feature as a "significant step toward achieving a more seamless user experience."
Bridges have emerged as a potential vulnerability in the crypto ecosystem—with billions of dollars stolen following high-profile hacks affecting crypto bridges such as Horizon and Ronin. Last year, deBridge, the project whose bridge underpins the Solflare-MetaMask integration, was the target of an attempted cyberattack by North Korea’s Lazarus Group.
“DeBridge has never had any attacks on its infrastructure and has never had any critical vulnerabilities disclosed,” a spokesperson for the project told Decrypt.
They added that, “unlike most cross-chain bridges, the deBridge infrastructure is built in a way that renders classical bridge exploits meaningless,” explaining that because the design of its DLN cross-chain trading infrastructure is based on 0-TVL principles, “there are no honeypots that can be exploited.”