This article is Part 3 of "MetaMasquerade: A Look Into MetaMask Data" 🦊 , a 3-part data analysis series I created:

• MetaMasquerade Part 1: Total MetaMask Users (go here to read).
• MetaMasquerade Part 2: Most Common MetaMask Transactions (go here to read).
• MetaMasquerade Part 3: Swaps on MetaMask vs. Other Platforms - Uniswap & Sushiswap (this article ⬇️).

Introduction

MetaMask is a go-to cryptocurrency wallet for many users. In addition to deposits and withdrawals, it offers an in-wallet swap function, introduced in October 2020.

MetaMask Swaps functions similarly to a swap aggregator (or a hotel price aggregator), which compares swap rates across DEXes, shows the best rate to the user, and if approved - executes the swap in-app (using the Metamask Swap Router) via the DEX with the best price.

Methodology

This analysis covers the time period from the start of 2022.

Because MetaMask in-app swaps are executed with the help of the same DEXes that we would like to compare MetaMask to, this analysis distinguishes between the swap router on which each swap is executed. For instance, MetaMask may execute a user swap on Sushiswap because it offered the best quote, but this transaction will initially go through MetaMask Swap Router (0x881D40237659C251811CEC9c364ef91dC08D300C).

We compare MetaMask Router swaps with swaps executed through DEX routers on Ethereum:

• Uniswap V2 (0xf164fC0Ec4E93095b804a4795bBe1e041497b92a, 0x7a250d5630B4cF539739dF2C5dAcb4c659F2488D),

• Uniswap V3 (0xE592427A0AEce92De3Edee1F18E0157C05861564, 0x68b3465833fb72A70ecDF485E0e4C7bD8665Fc45),

• Sushiswap (0xd9e1cE17f2641f24aE83637ab66a2cca9C378B9F).

Data Results

How many swaps took place on MetaMask vs. other platforms?

Since the start of 2022, 16% of MetaMask/Uniswap/Sushiswap swaps took place on MetaMask Swap Router:

How much transaction volume have these users done?

On 25 June 2022, MetaMask processed $3M worth of swaps (measured by the USD amount swapped in). Uniswap V3 routers processed $19M, Uniswap V2 - almost $10M, and Sushiswap - almost $9M:

Average amount swapped

Currently, Sushiswap has the largest average daily swap size ($4k), about 4x that of MetaMask:

Comparison of fees

Uniswap V3 router swaps generated the most total fees, but average fees per transaction on MetaMask swap vs. other platforms have been similar:

Takeaways

While MetaMask swap functionality utilizes DEXes like Uniswap and Sushiswap to facilitate in-wallet swapping, transactions on on these other DEXes dominate over MetaMask swaps. MetaMask users make fewer swaps and for fewer amounts, which may suggest that users (or bots) looking to make swaps prefer to trade on DEXes directly, and MetaMask swaps could be a transaction of convenience (rather than part of a large-volume trading strategy) for other categories of users. The per-swap fees are consistent between MetaMask and other routers, which is consistent with fees being a function of network congestion and transaction complexity/contract optimisation, not the platform per se.

About

This analysis was created by catscatscode (Flipside, Twitter, catscatscode#3578 on Discord) on 25 June 2022 for Flipside Crypto's "Metamask vs. Other Platforms" bounty. This analysis represents the author's best effort at interpreting available data, but it is not financial advice.

How many users are swapping via MetaMask vs other platforms?

At the peak, the MetaMask swap router processed over 6k swaps a day this year, compared with 22k total for Uniswap and Sushiswap. Currently, MetaMask processes ~2k swaps per day, and the other routers - around 6k:

Breaking down the 'other' router group into Uniswap v2, v3, and Sushiswap, we can see that Uniswap V3 Routers processed the majority of swaps among the platforms we examined:

Comparison of swaps by token

By token, since the beginning of 2022 the most swapped token has been WETH, followed by USDC, across all platforms that are examined here:

As the overall swap volume declined, MetaMask Router retained its share:

MetaMask users swapped the least amount per user each day: