insists its virtual mempool is different, and is necessary for addressing Ethereum's large hidden costs.

"We're not going to try to take over Ethereum or something," said Linehan, "but there's no way that this becomes the base layer for the future of the global economy if it's wasting $400 million of its users' money every year on things that literally do nothing for them. That's pure waste

When a user tells a blockchain wallet to submit a transaction to a chain like Ethereum, they are typically sending that transaction to a public mempool – a waiting area for yet-to-be-confirmed transactions operated by a decentralized network of bots and traders. "Block builders" and "searchers" work together to assemble transactions into bundles, called blocks, which eventually get written to the blockchain's digital ledger

Builders and searchers scour the mempool for profitable trading opportunities and will sometimes re-order transactions or squeeze their own trades into blocks to extract an extra profit for themselves. This phenomenon, "maximal extractable value," can sometimes lead to higher costs, failed transactions and slow-downs for everyday blockchain users

Metamask will leverage some of these same operators – builders and searchers – to power its virtual mempool. Unlike on Ethereum's public mempool, the virtual mempool's builders and searchers will be financially penalized if they fail to execute transactions at the prices quoted by MetaMask to users

Linehan says "95%" of the builders and searchers that currently operate Ethereum have already opted into its virtual mempool program, which will begin rolling out in phases over the course of this week. A more limited version of the tech, "Smart Swaps," has already been available for several months

The size of MetaMask's virtual mempool network – combined with its transparent inner workings and novel incentive scheme – makes it wholly unique from conventional private mempools, said Linehan

In addition to ensuring better prices for users, Linehan says that the Smart Transactions feature will make it easier for