MetaMask is about to launch a points program, what can be done right now?

Source: Odaily

Following the confirmation by Joseph Rubin, founder of Consensys, the parent company of “Little Fox” MetaMask, on September 19 that “MetaMask will soon launch a token, and it may be sooner than you expect,” rumors about MetaMask issuing a token have been swirling. The most recent and basically confirmed news is that MetaMask will launch a points program before the TGE, and these points will be linked to the future MetaMask token.

• Odaily note: For more details on MetaMask’s confirmed token issuance, refer to “In the Web3 Wallet War, is MetaMask Also Confirmed to Issue a Token?”

Official Disclosure: Plan Confirmed, But Details Still Undecided

In the early hours of October 5 (GMT+8), MetaMask made an announcement on its official X account about the plan (the official term used is “rewards program,” not “points program”), confirming that the program is about to launch — note, this is the only official proactive disclosure as of publication.

“GM, Little Foxes 🦊

That’s right, our rewards program is coming soon.

Any details you’ve seen or heard before do not represent the final version to be launched. Now let’s talk about what the real MetaMask rewards program will include — the program will offer referral rewards, mUSD incentives, exclusive partner rewards, token access rights, and more.

However, this is not a liquidity mining game; it is becoming one of the largest on-chain rewards programs ever — in just the first season of the MetaMask rewards program, we will distribute over $30 million worth of LINEA token rewards.

We hope to establish a sincere mechanism for continuous community feedback through this program.

As for OG users... we are always watching you. Long-term MetaMask users will not be ignored — they will receive exclusive benefits, and the MetaMask rewards program will be deeply linked to the future MetaMask token.

More details will be announced in the coming weeks, and the full program will be launched simultaneously.”

Besides this announcement, another source that can be partially regarded as official is the information previously leaked from a MetaMask official website subpage — specifically, portfolio.metamask.io/rewards, but now it redirects immediately to the Dashboard homepage and the subpage is no longer visible.

As shown in the image above, the most important information is clearly these two descriptions about “points”:

• MetaMask has now launched a new rewards mechanism, earn points through swaps, cross-chain operations, etc., which can be redeemed for token rewards, partner privileges, and exclusive benefits;
• Your points multiplier will be calculated based on historical usage records and will take effect automatically after joining the program.

Market Rumors: Code Has Leaked Points Earning Methods

Although MetaMask officials have remained tight-lipped about the details of the rewards (or points) program, the community has uncovered some potential information through other clues.

Several community users have found that MetaMask’s GitHub page has added some system rules for points calculation. Points will be based on spot and futures trading volume on MetaMask, and reward points will be given for past activities. The specific points calculation methods are as follows:

• Spot trading: 80 points for every $100 in trading volume;
• Futures trading: 10 points for every $100 in trading volume — previous reports indicated that MetaMask plans to launch perpetual contract trading within the wallet via Hyperliquid;
• Past trading: 250 points for every $1,250 in trading volume (capped at 50,000 points);
• Using the Linea chain: an additional 100% reward points.

Preparation Plan: Identify Key Operations

From the official and community investigations above, we can roughly glimpse the general gameplay of this MetaMask activity, the details of which have not yet been announced.

• First, users need to actively perform operations to earn points, including but not limited to trading (spot and futures, but most likely limited to in-wallet trading), cross-chain operations, etc.;
• Second, Consensys will provide $30 million worth of LINEA as rewards for this activity, but it is unclear how points are linked to LINEA rewards — whether LINEA is obtained through points, or distributed simultaneously during the event;
• Third, the Linea chain will have a 1x special bonus, and the official announcement also mentioned “mUSD incentives,” but the specific form is also unclear;
• Fourth, old users will receive certain retrospective points and subsequent points multiplier bonuses.

In summary, it is not difficult to see that MetaMask specifically mentioned the sibling project Linea and its own stablecoin product mUSD, and has clearly stated that extra points bonuses will be given to the Linea chain — this has long been a common practice for Consensys ecosystem projects.

For example, Linea is currently running the liquidity incentive event Linea Ignition. Since last week, incentives have been significantly tilted toward mUSD on the asset side, and toward another sibling project Etherex (a decentralized exchange platform jointly launched by Linea, Consensys, and Nile) on the protocol side.

Based on this, it is expected that MetaMask’s subsequent activities will also give extra rewards and points to Linea and mUSD in terms of ongoing incentives and points. Although the event has not yet started and it is still uncertain whether MetaMask will award points (or future direct airdrops) for other interactive behaviors besides the above-mentioned specific active operations, it never hurts to try more interactions around Linea and mUSD early on.

Personally, I currently recommend adding liquidity for mUSD on Etherex, first, because this can effectively utilize several of Consensys’s “favored sons” — Linea, MetaMask, mUSD, and Etherex; second, even if the MetaMask airdrop expectation falls through, you can still earn considerable mining rewards through Linea Ignition.

Potential Controversy: Will This Be a PUA Sequel?

Judging from the community’s attitude, the market’s view on “MetaMask’s upcoming points program” is actually quite subtle. While token issuance is certainly a good thing, OG users who have used MetaMask for many years inevitably worry that the points program will dilute or even deprive them of their contribution weight; on the other hand, given Linea’s PUA black history, it is also unknown whether MetaMask’s points program will repeat the same story.

Since the full details of the plan have not yet been announced, it is difficult for us to assess the value of participating in the program for now. However, considering that the official has clearly stated that $30 million in LINEA rewards will be provided, there is at least more tangible benefit compared to the pure “drawing pie” during the Linea interaction period. Let’s hope Consensys, which has already misjudged the token issuance timing once, will learn from its mistakes.