As the dust has settled after FTX collapse, the Web3 segment is shaken up by the statement by the team of MetaMask, a leading non-custodial wallet. Many crypto users for the first time ever checked the RPC provider their dApps are using, and not for nothing.
Decentralization theater: Top blockchain RPC providers are tracking clients’ IP addresses
On November 24, 2022, MetaMask made headlines by its statement about the updates in Privacy Policy. The leading wallet for EVM blockchains announced that it transfers the IP addresses of its users to Infura, an RPC endpoints provider. While MetaMask works with all RPC providers, it leverages Infura’s APIs by default.
As Crypto Twitter was getting mad about such an announcement made by #1 decentralized wallet in Web3, MetaMask team released another one. It attempted to explain that nothing special happened as new policies ‘did not result in more intrusive data collection or data processing, and were not made in response to any regulatory changes or inquiries’.
However, some MetaMask users decided to change their RPC provider immediately and migrated from Infura to its competitors.
Some other PRC providers, such asAlchemy Moralis and QuickNode, also stated that they are collecting personal information such as IP addresses if you used their services. H/T @BlockBeatsChina https://t.co/i0iCl1UwQ6 pic.twitter.com/FlAESEMXSd
November 25, 2022
Imagine the surprise of MetaMask users when they discovered that other RPC providers adhere to the same standards. As per Chinese crypto media outlet BlockBeats, Alchemy, Moralis and Quicknode also collect IP addresses of their users as well as other types of personal information.
Wake-up call for users and teams?
It’s not hard to guess why this is dangerous for average cryptocurrency holders (check out our shortest guide for them on how to circumvent IP tracking) and for Web3 applications.
First of all, it makes DeFi users exposed to surveillance: with such information, every watchdog can correlate IP-addresses and transactions made by users. While government agencies are yet again cracking down on crypto users' privacy, this fact cannot but worry Web3 newcomers and pros. This goes in contradiction with an ‘on-chain’, ‘non-custodial’, ‘decentralized’ ethos of Web3 applications.
At least once this policy has already resulted in a censorship campaign: in early March 2022, the services of MetaMask and Infura became unavailable for some users in Venezuela and Iran.
For the teams of on-chain applications, these restrictions are even more dangerous as they might expose the data of their visitors for tracking.
As such, the right moment has come to try the service that prioritizes privacy and anonymity of its customers.
Time to move to GetBlock, a nodes provider that doesn’t sacrifice your privacy
GetBlock, a top-tier blockchain RPC provider, has never tracked the IP addresses and wallets data of its customers. GetBlock works in a KYC-neutral manner: we do not ask our clients to provide their IDs and credit card information as we are not a financial institution or alike organization and are not required to do it.
We value your privacy and only collect and store the information that is absolutely necessary to provide our service (for further information please feel free to refer to our Privacy Policy).
That being said, GetBlock does not log and store the IP-addresses of its users. We do not relate IP-addresses to the identities of our users and/or their wallet addresses, so users remain anonymous. Besides, GetBlock accepts cryptocurrency as a means of payment. Sharing bank card information is not necessary for users to work with GetBlock.
We use Google Analytics service for better user experience - but this can not allow us to track users’ activity on our nodes.
Our users can sign in to GetBlock with their e-mail addresses as this is the most intuitive way for the majority of them. All our users who prioritize their anonymity can sign up with the privacy-focused email services including Proton Mail, Tutanota, and other reliable platforms.
As such, switching towards GetBlock is a smart bet for all dApps. Your dApp will always be one step ahead in terms of user privacy and anonymity.
GetBlock offers blockchain RPC endpoints to 50+ blockchains through various interfaces to both mainnets and testnets, free and paid tariff, shared and dedicated nodes. We offer fast and cost-efficient endpoints of BNB Chain, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and all other mainstream chains.
Get access to our nodes now.
Also, feel free to try our premium private nodes today: dApps scaling has never been easier.
