Fort Worth, Texas, May 6, 2024 - Today, Consensys announced the launch of Smart Transactions, a new technology rolling out to all MetaMask users globally as an optional feature. This reimagined transaction experience offers unprecedented transaction success rates, reduces gas costs, and protects users from harmful MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) attacks such as frontrunning and sandwiching. EigenPhi estimated that these forms of MEV cost Ethereum users up to 124,000 ETH — over $350 million at current prices – in 2023 alone. 

With Smart Transactions, users’ transactions remain private until confirmed on chain, which means bots can’t frontrun them. Users also get higher success rates and reduced gas costs, because every Smart Transaction undergoes pre-simulation using MetaMask’s industry-leading just-in-time simulation service. Real-time transaction status is also displayed directly within the MetaMask wallet. The many new enhancements take advantage of a new mempool virtualization technology developed at Consensys' advanced research division, Special Mechanisms Group. The pieces work together to give Smart Transactions users more privacy, control, and visibility over their transactions at all times and under all network conditions.

Smart Transactions delivers MetaMask users:

  • The highest transaction success rates. During beta testing, Smart Transactions delivered a 99.5% transaction success rate, well above the industry benchmark. 

  • More value when trading and transacting. Because Smart Transactions can better predict gas costs, prevent costly frontrunning, and eliminate failed transactions, users pay less and avoid costly surprises. 

  • Visibility and peace-of-mind. Users can monitor the real-time status of pending transactions on an intuitive dashboard directly in MetaMask, without navigating to third party websites or block explorers. 

“Smart Transactions let users automatically take better care of the transactions they sign, and what happens when they get sent to the blockchain network. There is no better way to upgrade your user experience.” says Jason Linehan, Director of SMG.

A Quest to Fix Blockchain’s Hidden Problems

In 2023 alone, over 52,000 ETH was wasted on failed transactions, worth more than $153 million at today's prices.  Transactions that did succeed were often subjected to frontrunning by sophisticated bots able to read users’ transactions after they’ve been submitted and send their own transactions in order to gain an advantage.

“Submitting transactions to a distributed network is hard. This complexity often results in a user experience that is both frustrating and unpredictable,” said Gal Eldar, Executive Director of Product at MetaMask. “In many cases, it can lead to significant financial leakage due to frontrunning attacks, costly on-chain reverts, and overpayments for block space. It's a reality many users, whether knowingly or not, have faced and reluctantly come to accept. Over time, it became increasingly clear that we could do better and tackle these problems head-on.”

In the months ahead, MetaMask will be introducing more enhancements to the transaction lifecycle through Smart Transactions, and will continue to optimize these new mechanisms to further increase success rates, lower gas costs, and retain the value of trades for Smart Transactions users. These enhancements are critical in order to realize the full potential of Ethereum and web3. MetaMask will continue to support raw transactions and custom RPCs for developers and those who prefer additional choice when connecting to a blockchain. 

Find more information on the MetaMask blog.


About Consensys 

Consensys is the leading blockchain and web3 software company. Since 2014, Consensys has been at the forefront of innovation, pioneering technological developments within the web3 ecosystem. Through our product suite, including the MetaMask platform, Infura, Linea, Diligence, and our NFT toolkit Phosphor, we have become the trusted collaborator for users, creators, and developers on their path to build and belong in the world they want to see. Whether building a dapp, an NFT collection, a portfolio, or a better future, the instinct to build is universal. Consensys inspires and champions the builder instinct in everyone by making web3 universally easy to use and develop on. To explore our products and solutions, visit https://consensys.io/.