What To Do If You Are Banned By Metamask

By Bfab | Good vibes | 4 Mar 2022

If you are in Iran or Venezuela, this article is for you. If you are not in one of these both countries, this article is for you too, because it could happen to you as well. For its first time in its history, Metamask has blocked access to users of which the IP address is located in certain countries.

What to do if you are banned by Metamask?

Fortunately, there are plenty of solutions if you own the keys to your cryptos. Metamask is not a real wallet, it is just an interface to an Ethereum address where your cryptos (of which you own the keys) are stored. This address still exists, you still have the keys, so you just need to change the interface:

You can use a VPN to spoof Infura, i.e., the "Web 3.0" backend and Infrastructure-as-a-Service provider that Metamask uses to connect to Ethereum
You can switch your Metamask endpoint to Alchemy, which is a competitor of Infura - Alchemy has not banned anyone so far, but who knows?...
You can import your wallet into another piece of client software, i.e., a competitor of Metamask such as Frame for instance (there are other options)

The third option is the shortest path. Once you have done that, it could be worthwhile to buy a hardware wallet (e.g., Ledger or Trezor) and to transfer your funds from the hot wallet that you have chosen to replace Metamask (e.g., Frame) to your hardware, i.e. cold, wallet. Why? Because as long as your private key remains on a browser, there is a risk. If you keep your private key on a cold wallet and never expose it online, nobody can take it from you, and you will still have access to your cryptos, whatever Metamask, the regulators or anyone else decides.

Below a few referral links to earn more cryptos...

Resources