Consensys sued over MetaMask intellectual property: CoinDesk

By MK Manoylov • Edited by Nathan Crooks
Business•August 2, 2023, 2:04PM EDT
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Consensys sued over MetaMask intellectual property: CoinDesk

Quick Take

  • In a lawsuit, entrepreneur Joel Dietz claims to have started working on a browser-based crypto wallet called Vapor.
  • Consensys denied the allegations in a statement to CoinDesk. 
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Entrepreneur Joel Dietz accused the blockchain software firm Consensys of taking the idea for a web-based cryptocurrency wallet that would eventually become MetaMask, CoinDesk reported, citing a lawsuit filed in state court in California on Tuesday. 

Dietz claims he initially developed the intellectual property for an in-browser crypto wallet in a 2014 project called Vapor. For the project, Dietz recruited Consensys employee Aaron Davis for coding help in 2015, but Dietz asserts that Davis went off to found a browser-based crypto wallet called MetaMask with Dan Finlay.

Dietz also claims that Consensys downplayed his involvement in MetaMask after the wallet app launched.

Consensys refutes lawsuit

In a statement to CoinDesk, Consensys claimed Dietz “has no relation to MetaMask” and insisted that Aaron Davis and Dan Finlay co-founded MetaMask in 2016.

Consensys is considered a crypto ecosystem staple for its oversight of MetaMask, one of the most popular cryptocurrency wallets. The firm netted $450 million in Series D funding in early 2022, earning Consensys a $7 billion valuation.