Metamask might be the biggest Ethereum wallet on the market, but certainly not the best! In this article, I'll discuss the three reasons that make Tally Ho! so great.

Takeaways: 

• Metamask is a Web2 app masquerading as a Web3 wallet.

• Tally Ho! is less technically-indebted, community-owned, and cheaper.

In the works, Web3 has yet to take definitive shape—though we can distinguish some of its broad contours. This next paradigm shift for the internet has been gestating for years. But now we can, at least, see the receding demarcation lines of Web2. In other words, today we can formulate a clearer idea of what Web3 is and what is not, or should not be!

As far as Web3 principles are concerned, decentralization is a thread that holds everything together! Many so-called decentralized wallet platforms have been popping up around the web in the last few years, each promoting its unique DeFi, NFT, and other dApp functionalities and features. 

Maybe each of the Ethereum wallets around comes with its own set of perks and drawbacks. Still, not all of them earn that coveted “Web3 badge” used often merely for marketing effect! 

With over 30 Million MAUs (one of them yours truly), Metamask is the biggest crypto wallet in play today. But is it truly decentralized? Facts and common sense beg to differ! I digress.

Anyway, now there's a new kid on the block. Enter "Tally Ho!" self-described as the "wallet Web3 deserves", but we'll see about that in a minute!

Both Tally Ho! and Metamask are great crypto wallets. But, there are some major differences setting them apart. For the sake of this post, we’re not going to delve too much into all the technical differences between the two wallets, and they’re many! Instead, we're going to break down the three major reasons that, in my opinion, mark off Tally Ho from Metamask and the ilk:

Tally Ho vs Metamask: True Web3 vs Web3 "kinda"!

Tally Ho! is a free, open-source Web3 wallet built for and operated by its users. As opposed to narrow corporate interests, Tally Ho! was designed from the ground up aiming to favor the community at large. The project has come a long way since its inception a couple of years ago. And with their recent partnerships and innovative features, it's clear that Tally Ho!'s future looks to be exciting, to say the least.

Tally Ho’s concept was devised as a response to the assault on decentralization from the so-called advocates of decentralized technology. And yes, they point the finger at Joseph Lubin, the co-founder of Ethereum and founder of ConsenSys. In 2020, Metamask announced they would be “evolving” their license that would no longer be open-source. By adopting, in their words, a “tiered proprietary license”, they just wanted more control over the crypto cash floodgates. A blow to the open culture of Ethereum, at odds with the principle of decentralized web and Metamask’s very values, this move has led to Tally Ho’s seed to germinate.

In fact, by owning the entirety of Metamask’s codebase and putting it behind a tiered license wall, ConsenSys is just following the steps of Web2 old guard!

Metamask itself was built on (the open-source) Ethereum network. And the dev team of Tally Ho could just take the easy way out (in?) by forking Metamask, just like Brave did. They could’ve used Metamask’s open-source codebase as a template on which they build Tally Ho. But they opted not to, for a good reason.

1. It’s Younger (read: Newer!): Fresh Codebase With Less Technical Debt

Brand-new codebase means it comes with much less technical debt.

A common problem in software development, technical debt is the price paid for writing software with short-term benefits that outweigh the long-term consequences of not addressing them.

In the beginning, it's easy to write code that does exactly what you want it to do. But as time goes by and your application gets more complicated, you start introducing bugs and causing other problems that aren't immediately visible. Eventually, you end up with a lot of unaddressed technical debt — a situation where your codebase has outgrown its framework or can no longer support its current load.

Metamask's code is 6 years old. Had the Tally Ho dev team built their platform on top of existing Metamask infrastructure, they would've inherited a hefty technical debt load. This is why Tally Ho's codebase won't be containing thousands of lines of legacy code from Metamask. Developed from scratch, Tally Ho will have fewer bugs and way less technical debt. 

2. It's Community-Owned: Run by "You" for "You"!

In 2021 alone, Metamask earned north of $200 million—and not a penny went to the users, all siphoned into shareholders’ pockets.

Tally Ho! Benefits its community at large, not a bunch of corporate shareholders! 

All the swap fees will go back to the upcoming Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO); or in less technical jargon: the Tally Ho community made up of all its users. All the profits generated from Tally Ho! will be reinvested in its ecosystem. This mean that every time you use Tally Ho!, you are helping to build something bigger and bigger.

Besides, any decisions regarding Tally Ho’s future to be made have to get the approval from the community, not a board of directors. 

Free, open-source software development is one of the foundations of Web3. By law, under the GNU General Public License (GPLv3), Tally Ho and its codebase will remain free, owned by the community.

3. Cheaper Swaps: Half the Price, No Hidden Fees!

Swap fees are the hidden fees that many products charge to users when they buy cryptocurrencies or tokens with their platform. The reason why these fees exist is because crypto exchanges have to pay for all of their operations, and this includes the cost of sending funds between wallets, as well as processing and settling trades.

Tally Ho! is a decentralized exchange that makes it easy to swap between tokens and cryptocurrencies. But with much lower swap fees than Metamask (0.5% vs 1%) and no hidden fees.

That said, even with higher gas price, you can still have some peace of mind knowing that all the fee revenue will be re-injected into the system.

Wrapping Up...

My personal "favorite" reason to, well, favor Tally Ho is because it is community-owned. Instead of being controlled by one or two developers and subject over time to the whims of individual interests. Through direct voting (and Delegates), anyone in the community can submit proposals for what they want to see implemented in Tally Ho!, which means nobody gets left behind!

The team behind the Tally Ho! dapp believes that a sustainable product needs to be built on open source code, incentivized community participation and a peer-to-peer economy. With a clean new codebase, low fees, and community governance, Tally Ho! is ushering in a new age of the Web.  More feature-rich, and community-owned... Tally Ho! is that wallet Web3 has been waiting for!

I appreciate both your tips and input below.

Thanks.

Zed,