Bitcoin Forum

Consensys, the company that owns MetaMask, just updated its Privacy Policy to state that they are collecting your IP ADDRESS and your ETH ADDRESS when you send a transaction.

https://i.imgur.com/MtNaSSF.jpg

This can be a problem for users from many countries. It is worth thinking about using a VPN.

Source: https://consensys.net/privacy-policy/

Not bothered at all, most websites today are collecting your ip and data especially social media, facebook, twitter, reddit. If you don't want to get tracked then stay offline as possible since we cannot control this abuse from internet users. The most alarming is when they can see our private keys stored in metamask but I  dont think they can,

What did you mean about problem for users from many countries? did you mean they live in where cryptocurrency get banned on their countries but they're want to buy and sell cryptocurrency even though they're break the countries law? it's considered as crime.

This is why if you don't want to get tracked, you must use a wallet that run in full node e.g. Bitcoin, don't use unknown central server. All centralized coin e.g. ETH, BNB, USDC, USDT etc that run in ETH or BNB network can track anyone IP address and it's bad for your privacy.

Metamask is a non-custodial wallet but it is a wallet that stores altcoins and altcoins represent centralization, so this won't affect your privacy too much meaning once you've used altcoins your privacy is gone. But with this move showing an increasingly centralization trend spreading in the market, this is alarming. Organizations are probably under pressure from the government so they can do nothing but obey orders. Lucky to see that Satoshi made the right decision 14 years ago, if he revealed his identity perhaps bitcoin would also become centralized.

@dwminer1, I don't understand collecting user's IP and Ethereum addresses can be a problem for users, can you explain this OP? Do they intend to sell our data to other entities? but are IP and Ethereum addresses enough to sell data? I don't think so ::). And if it's true that data collection by Consensys is quite dangerous, then yes, the answer is using a VPN, LOL.

Bypassing the issue of privacy will not be complicated if you know how to do it, but the problem can be solved if they put a blacklist of addresses that can be blocked.
Ethereum itself is facing excessive centralization charges and therefore we can say that things may go wrong in the future if you are looking for decentralization.

Therefore, it is best to stay away from Ethereum and Metamask if you want a better level of privacy and decentralization.

I think you should.

You said that most websites today are tracking users IP address, accepted, but you can't compare websites with a crypto wallet that's supposed to keep users fund safe, why is a wallet that's supposed to be fully decentralised tracking users location and data?

Is FTX incident haven't teach us enough lessons? What if bad actors got employed to Metamask team and they start carrying out attacks on people's home and addresses? Yes, don't blame me for thinking this way. I need to, we can't trust the government and now it looks like crypto companies are also in the government.

Well, what problem that may arise to be exact? Did you suppose that using VPN will be okay even if the user address is logged?

If some users truly want to achieve privacy, there is no reason for any transaction that is tied to potentially identifiable information like IP or address to be okay to be logged. Naturally, the SPV wallet and the ecosystem of ETH itself are concertedly centralized, we can look at things like OFAC, the merge, etc. The way forward for ETH itself seems did not prioritize decentralization.


A wallet is not supposed to decentralize. You might want to comprehend what the word actually means.

I don't mind for that update are by metamask at all since they are collecting ethereum wallet addresses when you make a transaction unless your personal identity is known by them and the wallet address you have is link to you then that's a problem for me. If you want to have better privacy then why not use different non-custodial wallet which doesn't collect wallet addresses and IP addresses after making a transaction.

All the things we are using like Facebook, Twitter... are centralized and they always fully exploit our data without asking us or paying us any money. It's a condemnable invasion of privacy and we should all stay away from it. And we chose crypto to solve that problem but in the end centralization is a contagious disease with no way to stop it.
It won't be a problem if they just collect our IP address and ETH wallet as we can use a VPN but this is just the beginning and I'm afraid they will do more in the future.

Not the first time that we have heard this from a 3rd party collecting data like IP addresses and country of origin.

And maybe MetaMask have done this before its that the first time that they have reveal this to us, maybe they are afraid that it might backfire on them later. So I guess it's really up to us, if we wanted to be anonymous, might be good to used VPN or any other tool to hide your identify.

But in the world of crypto right now, everyone is being tracked, exchange are asking not just for our IP but even personal information.

It's not a problem these days as most websites where you're logging in or even as a guest, it's all recorded. You can't skip the process because all of them collects our data.
And expect soon that even those decentralized platforms or any type of website that claims that they're not collecting your data or IP address, they'll soon change their terms and will say the same thing.

So many times these days were collecting your IP, i think that if this is not a big problem. i just remind you that even some sites were forcing to collect cookies from its visitors. As long as it was not collecting your privatekey and this will be fine for me. The only problem once metamask was starting to collect sensitive data related with the privatekey owned by the users. That will be a big problem. Tracking IP was a common thing.

There are so many sites were also tracking another thing like geo location. If you're new with this and then you may be a bit surprised to see that happened with metamask.

Did metamask ever block IP addresses from Russia when the new war broke out at the beginning of the year? I think they collected this data for a long time and didn't tell us, but glad they finally admitted. For this problem, just have a VPN software that we can easily solve all, nothing too serious. But I would consider choosing another wallet which is more secure.

MetaMask does not block the IP addresses of Russian and Ukrainian users, nor does it freeze their wallets, and I have never heard the news that MetaMask handed over someone's wallet to any government entity, the good thing about this wallet is that it does not store user data, and I see that it does not track the full IP address of the users, and even if this happens, by using a VPN, you can change your IP, and thus the privacy problem has been solved.

For me, MetaMask is one of the best wallets that keep users' privacy and doesn't require them to pass KYC or anything like exchange wallets.

Yeah, but it doesn't mean they are not collecting any data from you, and now that they have blatantly that they will do collect, ip address and other pertinent data so probably it's worst that KYC because they all have your footprints around the internet so your privacy has already been compromised.

And just like KYC, we don't know how they are going to used this data that will collect from us.

So probably yes, a good VPN will do when you try to used MetaMask moving forward.

Not a big deal I guess since most of the site today secretly collects our IP address and that is for some reason. The only concern here is that, if you are using the same IP address with your other metamask wallet, if that is not the issue then I guess we should not panic. Collecting IP address to fight any suspicious transactions can be a big help, most probably this will serve for that purpose.

Just because you aren't bothered doesn't mean others shouldn't be bothered too. Yeah social media platforms like facebook and twitter is collecting your data, but you do have options to control what they can collect and how they can process your data. You can request for all the data they have about you and some data can also be permanently removed. If they can collect your IP data, then what is stopping them from accessing your private keys?
Staying offline isn't the solution. It's like saying cut off your legs if your leg hurts.

Yes, no longer a big deal but what's alarming when these apps and websites exposes our IPs and sells it to advertisers. They've got our logs and patterns.
Well, this has been happening with Facebook and Google to name a few. Whenever you say something and you're with your phone, you'll notice that there's the appearance of that product eventually on your profile or news feed that you've just spoken because they're keeping our data that includes IP.

They cleared it though,


https://cointelegraph.com/news/consensys-addresses-metamask-ip-collection-claims-nothing-has-changed

So they have been doing this since the inception, that's how I interpret it, so yes nothing has change.

And they assured that the info collected are not going to be taken advantage of, meaning that they won't monetized those data. Obviously though it is with great skepticism.

Metamask didn't block Russian and ukraine users during the last war but it did block IPs coming from Iran as well as IPs coming from Venezuela.

I agree with Party24*7 and Kemarit, they tell you they don't collect user data but that doesn't mean they don't do it behind our backs.
If they claim not to track users then why are they blocking transactions coming from Iran this is a contradictory statement and I don't fully trust them. There is no such thing as the best decentralized tool when it is created and operated by a centralized organization.
https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/crypto/metamask-opensea-bars-iran-and-venezuelian-users-after-russias-attack-on-ukraine-7804839/

This is common when you use devices connected to the internet. I don't have a problem with IP detection when using MetaMask. The most important thing is that my token is safe when transacting using Metamask or storing tokens.

Maybe I'm a bit confused, it wasn't metamask that blocked IPs from Russia but coinbase that blocked wallets coming from Russia. They don't require KYC doesn't mean they don't track you, they can track your IP address and ETH wallet means they have the right to block your transaction and if you are shady or involved to crime, they will give your IP to the police. Isn't that an invasion of privacy? i also use etamask but now it's not decentralized anymore.

I don't think that they have been decentralized in the beginning? I mean they say that they have been taking logs it's that they just put in it their ToS or something and that is why there is a big uproar right now. And that is why I said it's better to used VPN, but still though, everyone is being tracked and log once we get connected, from Google to Facebook even here in this community our ip addresses are monitored. The thing is how Metamask will used this data at hand, hopefully they won't used it as sort of blackmail or to sell this logs to a 3rd party. And I think that is the point of contention here.

How, if there are different miners and nodes around the world?

I think you need to go back and read the privacy policy again. There don't just collect only IP address, they collect your browsing history, browser and device IDs, browsing habits among other thing. That data is very valuable for sale

This is only revealing how the centralized aspect of the Ethereum network works. Coinsensis practically owns ethereum and has been monitoring the network since its inception.
They are simply trying to terminate privacy and make money out of your data while wearing the false pretext they're doing it to comply with regulation.

As a blockchain user, you must understand that IP addresses are not secret; it is the public identifier for your device. So, if you connect to any blockchain service via MetaMask, it will appear as a transaction originating from your IP address. These transactions will be recorded and stored on that blockchain. It will also be visible to anyone who wants to see it.

I think, IP tracking information is not actually collected for malicious purposes. According to the privacy policy, this is collected for the purposes of: analyzing the service, developing new features, and understanding how users access. The point of this collection is to improve the features of MetaMask.

That is not really the problem, the problem is that it seems from the very beginning they have been keeping track of this information and only now are coming clean with this, also if they get hacked then hackers will not only have data about which address is holding a lot of ethereum or other altcoins but they will have your IP as well, if you are not using a VPN or a proxy then they will get an approximate idea of where you live, which is very dangerous if you are holding a lot of money in a single address.

Well indeed using a VPN when transacting metamask is highly recommended after this news. But so far I have never used any VPN when transacting on Metamask and it has always been safe. i don't think it really matters as long as they're right.

Actually you can hide your IP address if you want by using Tor browser, but since Metamask doesn't support Tor browser you don't have any way to hide your IP address (VPN wouldn't work).

It's just their excuse lol, any rules will have disadvantage and advantage, but they're just mention the advantage part. Do you think a scammer will blatantly say they create ponzi scheme project to scam you? nope, they wrote you will get 2% daily and will give many fake reviews in order to convince you.

Metamask disgusts me. Although it is non-custodial, it is extremely dangerous. If your device is hacked or your wallet is compromised, the hacker will be able to see your seed again. That means your entire wallet could be drained. I've seen a few similar claims online. As a result, use metamask with caution. Most software can track your IP address. To avoid tracking, use a proxy connection whenever you use a wallet. It is not only Metamask that collects your IP address. I'm no longer a fan of Metamask after one of my known people's wallets was drained.

Some wallets disable seed visibility when you import your wallet seed but some wallets show your seed words by default. It makes your screen more vulnerable to hackers and if your devices are infected, your seed words will be seen.

Do you have any recommendation on better wallets to use than Metamask?

Myetherwallet
Trust wallet
Safepal wallet
C98 wallet

What is the best in your opinion or any other wallets that I did not write down above?

This a huge problem for someone who was using this wallet for their personal gain in a negative manner but for those who were just using it for mere transactions without any reasons to hide, this is nothing and they will just ignore the updates and continue what they were doing. As for the users who are conservatives when it comes to their privacy, then they will gonna need to start to look for alternatives that are safe and not get this kinda bad updates because it will gonna be a pain in the ass once they track your real address from your IP address and you don't know what kind of people will visit you next time.

More like giving that data to governments as they are most likely complying with regulators. Connecting ip addresses with wallets would make them way less pseudonymous and easier to connect with holders. VPN however makes this effort meaningless so maybe those will get more popular. Not only amongst people who like to torrent their warez and media.

Also the topic is misleading, it's not metamask but Infura.

It will not harm you if you don't care about privacy, the collection of IP address and wallet is only to collect your personal information and does not affect your transactions or assets. But you need to make sure that your property must be legal without any connection to terrorism or hacking, otherwise someone will visit you any day. Metamask is a non-custodial wallet but with this action as it is becoming centralized everyone will surely find alternatives.

These things are bound to happen everywhere, not only on crypto associated sites, but social media and marketing sites. They are even honest in coming out to warn users. Some websites has been hoarding people's data for donkey years and secretly sell such information to the highest bidder. I was a victim of such

Or think about an alternative RPC in the settings of Metamask itself, set another service provider instead of Infura, a list of which can be found here (https://ethereumnodes.com/). In general, I think that all services keep logs, just not all of them talk about it openly.

Well yes, I think it's a common thing especially on social media apps and online selling platforms since those are the ones who generate most of the profit most. I believe that there's not much profit if metamask sold their collected data to other vendors knowing that it could affect their current standing on crypto space. People now are starting to get allergic on centralized exchange and if a news like a "trusted" non-custodial wallets selling their customers data was released. I'm pretty sure their customer trust will plummets and sooner or later their users. I honestly didn't know that Metamask is collecting IP address by using a certain RPC, I guess they bypass the system given that we can choose an alternative RPC since it will result that they gave us a choice in sharing our IP address or not.

The usage of VPN has been growing during the last years, and news like this will surely make people to not only reconsider using those services but to consider them to be indispensable, as the level of privacy that we can keep is lowering each year due to the policies of the governments around the world, however if you have accessed their service before and you left your IP then using a VPN is not going to protect you as they will know that it was you accessing your coins and now you are just trying to cover your tracks in a very clumsy way.