ConsenSys, styled Consensys since 2023, is a blockchain software company founded in 2014 by Joseph Lubin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum. It builds tools and infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, including the MetaMask wallet, the Infura service that connects applications to the network, the developer tools that grew around them and Linea, a layer 2 network. Its headquarters were originally in Brooklyn, New York, and it operates with staff in many countries.
ConsenSys started as a "venture production studio" that incubated dozens of Ethereum projects and later narrowed its focus to a few core products. It is one of the best-known private companies in the Ethereum world and has been closely involved in the network's development, in enterprise blockchain through the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, and in US policy debates over how crypto software should be regulated.
ConsenSys in plain terms
If Ethereum is like a public road network, ConsenSys builds some of the most used cars, petrol stations and road maps. MetaMask is the "car" many people use to travel around Ethereum: a wallet in a web browser or phone that holds their keys and lets them use apps. Infura is like a fleet of petrol stations: rather than running their own computers connected to Ethereum, many apps and wallets plug into Infura's.
ConsenSys does not own Ethereum, which is open and run by thousands of independent computers. But because so many people pass through its products, its decisions about design, fees and compliance have a big effect on how ordinary users experience the network.
History
Lubin founded ConsenSys in 2014, shortly before Ethereum's launch in 2015, funding it largely from his own ether holdings. In its early years it backed many projects and spin-offs, from identity tools to prediction markets. After the crypto downturn of 2018, it restructured in a programme it called "ConsenSys 2.0", cutting staff and focusing on its strongest products. In 2020 it acquired Quorum, an enterprise version of Ethereum originally developed by JPMorgan. It raised $450 million in 2022 at a reported valuation of about $7 billion. Its Linea network opened to the public in 2023.
Main products
- MetaMask. A non-custodial Web3 wallet, available as a browser extension and mobile app, that stores users' keys on their own device and connects to decentralized applications. It also offers built-in token swaps, bridging and staking.
- Infura. A hosted service that runs Ethereum and other blockchain nodes and lets developers query them through an API, saving them from operating their own.
- Linea. A zero-knowledge rollup compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, which batches transactions and posts proofs to Ethereum.
- Developer and security services. Smart contract auditing through its Diligence unit, testing tools and, at various times, enterprise blockchain software and consulting.
Legal and regulatory disputes
In April 2024, ConsenSys sued the Securities and Exchange Commission, seeking a ruling that ether is not a security and that MetaMask's features did not require broker registration. In June 2024 the SEC sued ConsenSys, alleging that MetaMask's swap and staking services made it an unregistered broker and that it had taken part in unregistered offerings of staking programmes. The SEC agreed to drop its case in early 2025, as US policy towards crypto changed. ConsenSys has argued that software developers who do not hold users' funds should not be regulated as financial intermediaries.
Criticism
Infura's central role has been a long-standing concern for decentralization: when the service suffered an outage in November 2020, many wallets and exchanges briefly lost access to Ethereum, and when it restricted access from sanctioned regions in 2022, some users found MetaMask stopped working by default. A 2022 privacy policy update revealed that MetaMask, using Infura by default, could collect users' IP addresses alongside wallet addresses, prompting criticism and later changes. Some users have also criticised the fees charged on MetaMask swaps, and the company's plans for a MetaMask token and a Linea token have drawn debate about how much control ConsenSys should keep over projects that present themselves as community-run. Linea's token was distributed to users in 2025, with ConsenSys keeping a locked share for itself. Supporters credit ConsenSys with making Ethereum accessible to millions of users through a free, non-custodial wallet and with funding a large part of the ecosystem's early tooling.