Many people denounced through social media that they couldn’t use their wallets. Metamask had reported that the block had to do with legal issues.
Metamask, a famous wallet that carries out activities with Ethereum, obstructed the activities for users in Venezuela on March 3. In the afternoon, the service got back to its normal activities.
As shared by users through social media, the impossibility of entering the wallet was due to legal compliance problems. The action also impacted Infura, the wallet’s server, to send and gather information from the blockchain.
The blockade lasted various hours before access got finally rehabilitated. The company behind Metamask, Consensys, has not released any statement to clarify if the service will get blocked again in the short term.
Perhaps the first user to highlight this problem was the Venezuelan bitcoin enthusiast José Rafael Peña. In his publication, he stated that the situation occurred because there is always a problem or disruption in Venezuela that would make him lose access to his wallet. He sends his message with a screenshot of the Metamask site in which he tries to explain the possible reasons behind the failure of the platform.
The Metamask post clearly explained that Metamask and Infura were not active in various regions due to legal compliance difficulties. Further down, the statement shows a link for those users who want to migrate their recovery passwords.
Peña added that this situation shows that the decentralization they preach is fake. Infura is a service that focuses on the interchange of data with the Ethereum blockchain through platforms like Metamask, CryptoKitties, and TruFa.
Although Infura helps platforms perform their activities better and makes it easier for developers to create apps, it focuses more on working against decentralization. This situation happens because an intermediary got placed between application and network, which could cause struggles like the one with Venezuelan users.
How to Avoid these Blockages
Among users who spoke about the situation via Twitter, many highlighted that using a VPN could be an alternative for these cases. VPNs encrypt information and apply modifications to the IP of an internet connection. This way, they can camouflage a user’s location.
Finally, another solution is to implement other wallets to house digital assets; these wallets could be Trust Wallet or MyCrypto. None of these wallets have shown any problem in carrying out activities in a country like Venezuela.
Although there is no confirmation on what could have forced Metamask to stop bringing services to Venezuela, many said that it could be an economic obstruction due to the financial punishment the international community is implementing amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
Ukraine and other countries, including economic giants, such as the United States of America and the United Kingdom, intended to punish Russia with economic sanctions for its invasion of the affected country.
By: Jenson Nuñez
