What can be done right now as MetaMask is about to launch its points program?

Source: Odaily Planet Daily

Following the confirmation from Joseph Rubin, founder of "little fox" MetaMask's parent company Consensys, on September 19 that "MetaMask is about to launch a token, and it may be faster than you expect," rumors surrounding MetaMask's token issuance have been rampant. Recently, it has been reported and is basically confirmed that MetaMask will launch a points program before the TGE, and this points system will be linked to the future MetaMask token.

• Odaily Note: For more details on MetaMask's confirmation of token issuance, please refer to “In the Web 3 Wallet War, has Metamask confirmed token issuance?.”

Official Disclosure: Confirmation of the Plan Exists, but Details Are Not Finalized

In the early hours of October 5, Beijing time, MetaMask previewed the plan (officially referred to as the "rewards program," rather than "points program") on its official X account, confirming that the program is about to launch ------ Note that this is also the only proactive official disclosure as of the time of writing.

"GM, little foxes 🦊

That's right, our rewards program is about to go live.

Any details you may have seen or heard previously do not represent the final version that will 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 acquisition rights, and more.

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

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

As for OG users… we are always paying attention to you. Long-term users of MetaMask will not be overlooked ------ they will receive exclusive rights, 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 complete plan will be released simultaneously."

In addition to this announcement, another source that can be considered somewhat official is the information leaked from an earlier MetaMask subpage on its official website ------ the specific site was portfolio.metamask.io/rewards, but now opening it will immediately redirect to the Dashboard homepage, and this subpage is no longer visible.

As shown in the image above, the most important information is clearly these two sentences about "points":

• MetaMask has launched a new rewards mechanism, earn points through operations such as redemption and cross-chain, which can be exchanged for token rewards, partner privileges, and exclusive rights;
• Your points multiplier will be calculated based on historical usage records and will take effect automatically after participating in the program.

Market Rumors: Code for Points Acquisition Method Leaked

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

Several community users have discovered that MetaMask's GitHub page has added some system details for points calculation. Points will be based on spot and futures trading volume on MetaMask and will provide reward points for past activities, with the specific points calculation method as follows:

• Spot Trading: Earn 80 points for every $100 in trading volume;
• Futures Trading: Earn 10 points for every $100 in trading volume ------ Earlier reports indicated that MetaMask plans to launch perpetual contract trading within the wallet through Hyperliquid;
• Past Trading: Earn 250 points for every $1250 in trading volume (with a cap of 50,000 points);
• Using the Linea chain: Earn an additional 100% in reward points.

Preparation Plan: Focus on Key Operations

From the previous official and community investigations, we can roughly glimpse the general gameplay of this activity that MetaMask has not yet disclosed in detail.

• First, users need to actively perform operations to earn points, including but not limited to trading (including spot and futures, but likely limited to trading within the wallet application), cross-chain, etc.;
• Second, Consensys will provide $30 million in LINEA as rewards for this activity, but it is unclear how points will be linked to LINEA rewards ------ it is uncertain whether LINEA will be obtained through points or if it will be distributed simultaneously during the activity;
• Third, the Linea chain will have a 1x special bonus, and the official also mentioned the term "mUSD incentives," but the specific form is unclear;
• Fourth, long-term users will have some retrospective points and subsequent points multiplier bonuses.

In summary, it is not difficult to see that MetaMask specifically mentioned the same-source project Linea and its own stablecoin product mUSD, and it has clearly stated that it will provide additional points bonuses for the Linea chain ------ this has actually long been a common practice of Consensys's projects.

For example, the ongoing liquidity incentive activity Linea Ignition. Since last week, the incentives have clearly tilted towards mUSD on the asset side, while on the protocol side, it is leaning towards another same-source project Etherex (a decentralized trading platform launched in collaboration with Linea, Consensys, and Nile).

Based on this reference, it is expected that MetaMask's subsequent activities will also provide additional treatment for Linea and mUSD in terms of continuous rewards and points. Although the activity has not yet started, it is currently uncertain whether MetaMask will grant points (or future direct airdrops) for other interactive behaviors besides the aforementioned specific active operations, but it would not hurt to try more interactions around Linea and mUSD as soon as possible.

Personally, I would recommend adding liquidity for mUSD on Etherex, firstly, this can effectively utilize several "children" of Consensys: Linea, MetaMask, mUSD, Etherex; secondly, even if the expectation for MetaMask's airdrop falls short, this can still yield considerable mining returns through Linea Ignition.

Potential Controversy: Will This Be a Sequel to PUA?

Overall, the community's attitude towards the "MetaMask is about to launch a points program" is quite subtle. While token issuance is certainly a good thing, on one hand, OG users who have used MetaMask for many years inevitably worry that the points program will dilute or even rob their contribution weight; on the other hand, considering Linea's PUA dark history, whether MetaMask's points program will replay a sequel is also uncertain.

Since the complete plan details have not yet been announced, it is currently difficult to assess the participation value of this program. However, considering that the official has clearly stated that it will provide $30 million in LINEA rewards, at least there are some expected returns compared to the pure "pie in the sky" during the interaction period with Linea. Hopefully, Consensys, which has misjudged the timing of token issuance once, can remember this lesson.