MetaMask launches Agent Wallet for AI trading under guardrails

MetaMask has launched Agent Wallet, a self-custodial wallet designed to let AI agents execute on-chain trades and interact with decentralized finance protocols while operating inside user-defined security controls. The product is available to roughly 200 users through an Early Access Program, with broader availability scheduled for later this summer.

Agent Wallet routes agent-initiated transactions through MetaMask’s security stack. Protections include transaction simulation, scam and malicious-contract detection, Blockaid-powered threat scanning, Clear Signing and Servo MEV protection. During signing, private keys are held inside a hardware-isolated enclave using trusted execution environment technology to keep key material inaccessible to MetaMask and its parent company.

The wallet offers two operating modes. Guard Mode requires users to set spending limits, pre-approved protocols and an allowlist of addresses; transactions that exceed those limits or involve addresses outside the allowlist trigger two-factor authentication. Beast Mode scans addresses in real time instead of requiring pre-approval so agents can operate with fewer interruptions while remaining subject to spending caps and other guardrails. MetaMask maintains that two-factor authentication will still run for any transaction flagged as malicious in either mode.

Agent Wallet supports Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible chains and Hyperliquid, and it is compatible with multiple agent frameworks, including OpenAI Codex, Anthropic’s Claude Code, Cursor, OpenClaw and Hermes Agent.

Zhen Yu Tong, MetaMask’s senior director of product, described prompt injection as “an open research problem, not a bug you patch once.” He warned that some projects give agents direct access to private keys, which can lead to unintended transactions and fund loss, and added, “If the first generation of trading agents normalizes giving away your keys, we’ll be rebuilding the custodial mistakes crypto spent a decade escaping.”

MetaMask stated the Early Access Program will allow the company to refine detection and simulation features and to monitor how agents behave when they control funds in production. Other firms have introduced similar products: earlier this year Coinbase released Agentic Wallets that isolate keys inside trusted execution environments, and MoonPay has integrated Ledger hardware and published an Open Wallet Standard to align agent-wallet interactions across chains.