Bottom line: The MetaMask Stellar default network rollout went live on Oct. 29, making Stellar a default network in both MetaMask Mobile and the browser extension. Every existing multichain account now derives a Stellar address from the recovery phrase the user already holds: no new wallet, no extra setup, and by the announcement’s own figures, roughly 30 million users handed a native XLM address overnight.
It is the largest distribution win Stellar has had in a while, and the price did not get the memo.
What the MetaMask Stellar default network actually changes
- Stellar appears as a default network in MetaMask Mobile and the browser extension.
- Existing accounts automatically gain a Stellar address derived from the current seed phrase, with no separate wallet creation.
- Supported assets include native XLM, USDC and other Stellar trustline assets, plus Soroban smart-contract tokens, all holdable, sendable and swappable in-app.
- Activation requires the new Stellar address to receive at least 1 XLM; each non-XLM token needs a trustline that locks a further 0.5 XLM.
- For bridge transfers, the receiving trustline must be activated manually first, or MetaMask warns that funds can be lost.
The fine print: 1 XLM, trustlines and the hotel-minibar effect
Stellar’s account model comes with reserve rules that read like a hotel minibar: everything you enable holds a small deposit hostage. One XLM activates the address, half an XLM per token keeps each trustline open, and the activation steps live under Tokens, Manage Tokens, Activate. Users bridging in for the first time need to do that dance before funds arrive, which is exactly the kind of instruction people read after ignoring it.
A distribution win that XLM shrugged off
Despite the reach, XLM was down roughly 24-26% for October 2026, trading around $0.17. The reported reasoning: MetaMask’s integration adds convenience rather than new demand, while the serious Stellar activity is in assets that are not XLM, from Curve’s deployment on the Stellar mainnet to a $2.38 billion tokenized fund choosing Stellar as its home, alongside Spiko fund shares and Taurus custody. Utility without urgency, in other words.
Why it matters beyond the wallet
For MetaMask, it is another step in the multichain identity story that began with native bitcoin support: one recovery phrase, many chain personalities. For Stellar and the Soroban ecosystem, it is a distribution channel most protocols would trade a treasury for, delivered by the wallet competitors wish they owned. For the user who has never typed a Stellar address, it is now sitting one network dropdown away.
Parent company Consensys framed the rollout as part of MetaMask’s broader multichain expansion; the practical test starts now, when millions of default-on addresses meet millions of people who have never paid a trustline reserve in their lives.
