Losing your cryptocurrency is never fun. It’s devastating, even excruciating. With crypto-insurance in its infancy, the decision between mediums of storage and transfer becomes a lot harder. In a sense, your insurance is your private key but in another sense, your insurance is the programming code behind the mediums of storage used.
Cryptocurrency Wallets
A common misconception is that cryptocurrency wallets store cryptocurrency when they actually store information about cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies exist on the blockchain ledger but unlike coins in a physical wallet, they cannot be physically moved. Instead, they are moved around the ledger using public and private keys.
MetaMask offers a bridge between the Ethereum blockchain and web browsers. From Chrome to Brave Browser, a user can move cryptocurrencies around to interact with the blockchain and decentralized applications on it. In many ways, this can also offer a better sense of security for individuals investing in non-fungible tokens and interacting with the decentralized finance ecosystem.
MetaMask
While some wallets store private keys on their won servers, MetaMask stores it on the user’s browser which gives them more control over the security of their cryptocurrency. Users should keep in mind the risks tied to uninstalling MetaMask from a browser. MetaMask accounts come with seed phrases that may be used for account retrieval purposes. Without the phrases, they lose access to the account and the cryptocurrency tied to it.
The team added a hard wallet feature to toughen up the security of the medium. Users can connect their hard wallets to MetaMask, allowing them to enjoy the cold storage security of hard wallets while still being able to interact with platforms like CryptoKitties and MLB Baseball.
It links with several popular exchanges but also with decentralized exchanges which are rising in popularity. The different financial ecosystems on Ethereum tend to be a bit intimidating at first glance. Mediums like MetaMask provide the channel by which an individual can move their funds to platforms such as UniSwap where they can exchange cryptocurrencies or make transfers.
Browser Privacy and Cryptocurrency Storage
Despite MetaMask’s efforts at ensuring the privacy and security of users, browsers can still collect information about activity carried out with the application. This is why using more than one wallet is of great importance. It helps to spread the risk of cyber attacks.
Naturally, there have been issues on MetaMask in the past. Some users have complained of being unable to send tokens on the platform despite being able to successfully receive them. Messages may indicate that transactions have been sent but a check on Etherscan (the transaction analysis tool) may not have evidence of such a transaction.
MetaMask has a great open source community that continues to work on solving the little problems that naturally exist on game-changing platforms. It has customer support as well as a relatively responsive Twitter account which can help if the need arises.
Edel is an Editor with a decade of print and digital media experience – specializing in Science, Technology, Finance, Entertainment, and Advertising. He is also a stock and cryptocurrency investor. When Edel is not editing or analyzing charts, you can find him with his DIY lightbox taking timelapses of plants.