MetaMask’s new inbuilt multi-chain institutional custody feature

The institutional arm of the Consensys-owned MetaMask has integrated its first multi-chain digital asset custody solution called Cactus Custody.

MetaMask Institutional (MMI) initially partnered with Cactus Custody owned by crypto financial service platform Matrixport in October last year to incorporate its “DeFi Connector” feature into MMI’s suite of services.

The full integration with MMI was announced on Jan. 26, and Cactus Custody’s feature will now provide institutional customers with multi-chain connectivity to all Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains, sidechains and Layer 2s supported by MetaMask such as Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche, Celo and Polygon.

MMI product lead Johann Bornman said that Cactus Custody’s multi-chain EVM support will enable institutions to “freely bridge digital assets across these networks.”

“This is a profound DeFi offering for institutions.”

The DeFi Connector feature will also provide additional security and compliance aspects, such as audit trails for transactions conducted on MMI, private key safeguarding and “role-based approval” processes during interactions with DeFi platforms.

MMI was developed in December 2020 and its wallet differs from Metamask as it is integrated with additional security, compliance and custodial features that are vital for the growing number of institutions that are flocking to DeFi. The product aims to give institutional investors exposure to the entire DeFi ecosystem from within their MMI wallets.

Its other current custodial partners include top crypto firms such as decentralized custody firm Qredo and multi-signature wallet providers BitGO.

Related: Bithumb to block crypto withdrawals to unverified private wallets

MetaMask has more than doubled the number of its monthly active users since August 2021, with its website tallying the figure at more than 21 million at the time of writing.