MetaMask co-founder Dan Finlay leaves Consensys after more than ten years in the role

MetaMask co-founder and longtime developer Dan Finlay announced in a post on the X platform on April 22 that the day was his last working day at Consensys. He said he is leaving due to the physical and mental burnout caused by more than a decade of work developing crypto wallets, and he plans to spend more time with his family. On the same day, Finlay also announced that the MetaMask ERC-7715 advanced permissions feature is now live.

Dan Finlay Resignation Statement: Statement Content and Personal Background

According to Dan Finlay’s public post on the X platform on April 22, he worked at Consensys for more than ten years, with his main responsibility being developing the MetaMask crypto wallet. In the post, Finlay said, “Wishing the team all the best—there’s a great road ahead of them.”

MetaMask was co-founded by Finlay and Aaron Davis in 2016 under Consensys. It is an Ethereum-based crypto wallet that supports access via desktop browsers and mobile devices. Since then, MetaMask has expanded to non-EVM compatible networks such as Bitcoin and Tron, and has integrated features for prediction markets and tokenized stocks. In addition, MetaMask has partnered with Mastercard to launch a payment card that lets users receive cash back in the form of the native stablecoin mUSD.

ERC-7715 Advanced Permissions Feature: How It Works and Community Response

According to Finlay’s follow-up post on X the same day and MetaMask’s developer documentation, the ERC-7715 advanced permissions feature allows decentralized applications (dApps) to request granular permissions from MetaMask users. It enables users to automatically execute transactions, removing the step-by-step approval process for each transaction.

An example use case provided in the MetaMask developer documentation is as follows: “A user can authorize your dApp to spend 10 USDC every day for a month to buy ETH. Once authorization is granted, your dApp can use the allocated 10 USDC every day to directly buy ETH from the MetaMask user’s account.”

Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash, said in his reply on X to Finlay that this new feature is “extremely important,” and commented: “Finally, the cryptoasset market can provide everyone with what they envy—something like Visa and Mastercard: a recurring payment system, and crypto has never had something like that.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Why and on what date did Dan Finlay announce he would leave Consensys?

According to Dan Finlay’s public post on the X platform on April 22, he announced that that day was his last working day at Consensys. The reason for his departure was physical and mental burnout caused by more than a decade of developing MetaMask, and he planned to spend more time with his family.

What is the core mechanism of the MetaMask ERC-7715 advanced permissions feature?

According to MetaMask’s developer documentation, ERC-7715 allows a dApp to request granular permissions from MetaMask users so transactions can be executed automatically on the users’ behalf, eliminating the need to approve each transaction one by one. It applies to subscription-based or highly interactive decentralized application scenarios.

Who created MetaMask, and when was it established?

According to public information, MetaMask was co-created in 2016 under Consensys by Dan Finlay and Aaron Davis. It is an Ethereum-based crypto wallet that supports access via desktop browsers and mobile devices.