MetaMask Creator Consensys Facing Backlashes on New Privacy Policy

Crypto and blockchain industry is meant to have privacy as one of its core features. Most crypto companies also make sure of keeping the users privacy at their utmost priority. Amidst this, a recent announcement from Consensys regarding the changes in prices policy became a hot topic.

The company behind prominent crypto wallet software MetaMask, Consensys brought their updated privacy policy on 23rd November. The policy noted several new characteristics, more or less additional, asking for more details.

Consensys, according to privacy policy, would now be collecting IP and addresses of Ethereum wallets every time during a transaction. In addition, other details said to be tracked include financial, marketing and usage information of the wallet.

Temporary Privacy Policy for MetaMask Users

CEO Joseph Lubin said the updates were for a temporary period and also clarified some more details. Lubin said that the ‘data collation’ would apply to Infura users. Users with their own Ethereum nodes or with their own third-party RPC providers would be an exception for this. These RPC providers could be Moralis, Quicknode and Alchemy.

Consensys has Infura as its infrastructure platform on Ethereum. It plays a crucial role as default provider of Remote Procedure Call (RPC) on crypto wallet platform MetaMask. The privacy policy noted that while using Infura as default MetaMask RPC provider, it will be collecting users’ IP address and Ethreum wallet address during the transaction.

In addition it also noted that in case of using Ethereum node or an RPC provider other than Infura on MetaMask, then there will be no obligation of collecting IP or wallet address. However, it also advised to be aware of the data collection terms of any RPC provider.

People Reminding Web 3 Principles to MetaMask Creator

Despite the clarification and exceptions, the crypto community did not take the policy in tandem to the Web 3 principles. Consensys received a lot of criticism for its new privacy framework. People called out the company over Twitter like social media platforms.

One such significant remark was registered by Edward Snowden. The whistleblower asked if Infura or Consensys got MetaMask’s data or kept the wallet addresses of their users?

Meanwhile, Cinneamhain Ventures partner, Adam Cochran noted in his tweet that the new policy is visible as violation of consumer privacy. In addition, he also asked for the best option for self-hosted nodes, could be from hardware or SaaS services.

Citing the increasing opposition from the crypto community, the company behind MetaMask came forwards for defense. It argued in the blog that the overall Web architecture seeks the data collection and it is neither limited nor unique to Infura. Further it added that the company is making efforts to put technical solutions in place in order to minimize the exposure.