MetaMask, maker of a popular crypto wallet, on Monday unveiled an early access program for a new wallet built specifically for AI agents.
The new Agent Wallet allows AI applications to execute crypto swaps, trade perpetuals (a type of trading contract) and other positions across Ethereum and dozens of other compatible blockchains, according to MetaMask. The company is owned by Consensys, a major crypto software developer led by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin.
The release marks a new way of interacting with a MetaMask wallet – typically operated by humans manually via a user interface such as a browser wallet extension.
The agentic version is controlled via a command-line interface, or CLI, an increasingly common way for AI applications to interact with tools. Under the new setup, a human could use natural language tell an AI agent to perform various crypto operations, such as swapping one cryptocurrency for another, and then the agent would translate those instructions into commands that the wallet would understand.
"The product is designed for crypto-native traders, automators and builder-traders who already understand on-chain workflows and want agents to help execute them," Eric Mack, a content specialist at Consensys, wrote in a blog post. "It is framework-agnostic, with support for OpenClaw, OpenAI Codex, Claude Code, Nous Research Hermes Agent, Cursor and related agent environments."
MetaMask offers two modes, according to the post. In Guard Mode, the default, transactions that exceed daily spend limits or route to non-allowlisted protocols pause for human approval via two-factor authentication (2FA), delivered by mobile push or email. Beast Mode, which is opt-in, gives agents more latitude but still triggers 2FA on transactions flagged as malicious.
Early Access is open to a limited group of traders and developers and is initially available only via CLI, MetaMask said. General availability is slated for this summer.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The first draft of this story was written on Claude Desktop using a custom skill designed to handle press-release rewrites. I then used Distro Publisher, our MCP server, to file a draft directly to DeAI News, and then used the DistroVerse editing interface to make some edits, and I personally checked all the facts prior to publication.)