Ethereum Wallet MetaMask Apologizes For 'Accidentally' Blocking Users in Venezuela

MetaMask, the Ethereum ETH/USD wallet of blockchain technology firm ConsenSys, has apologized after some of its users in Venezuela were accidentally blocked from accessing the digital wallet on Thursday.

What Happened: MetaMask took to Twitter to apologize to its users in Venezuela after the issue was widely reported on social media.

MetaMask said the incident occurred due to a change in configuration by Ethereum node Infura — the infrastructure service owned by Conensys — following “new sanctions directives” from the United States and other jurisdictions.

Infura admitted it mistakenly configured the setting more broadly than required and apologized for the interruption in “inadvertently impacted regions.”

MetaMask relies on Infura as the default endpoint, but this setting can be modified by users if desired, or in case of any service interruptions. We sincerely apologize for the interruption to those in inadvertently impacted regions. https://t.co/kUxOr7zBe3

— MetaMask (@MetaMask) March 3, 2022

The problem has since been rectified.

See Also: How To Buy Ethereum (ETH)

Why It Matters: The incident highlights the difficulties in running decentralized services on centralized entities.

Infura is a U.S.-based company that is subject to federal law, while MetaMask aims to decentralize control over personal data and increase user privacy.

The incident comes in the aftermath of new sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other Western nations on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine had requested major cryptocurrency exchanges for a complete ban on their Russian users following the country’s invasion by Russia, but the request was rejected by companies such as Binance and Kraken. Coinbase also took a similar stance on Friday.

Price Action: Ethereum is down 6.2% during the past 24 hours, trading at $2,727.83 at press time.

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