16th June 2022 > > MetaMask.

tl;dr

MetaMask users are being warned about a potential compromise of their private keys.

Market Snap (at time of writing)

Market Wrap

In the last week, Italian 10-year yields have jumped from 3.3% to over 4%.

Quantitative Easing practised by almost every liberal Western democracy was an exercise in market manipulation of government bonds (and by extension all other risk assets) that could only ever be countenanced by using the firepower of Central Banks.

With no risk of criminal convictions for the perpetrators of this outrageous price fixing scam (Central Bankers do not prosecute themselves, they excuse themselves), it was all indeed a quite extraordinary state of affairs.

Anyway, that party is over now.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Warning for MetaMask users

If you are unfamiliar with MetaMask, it is one of the leading applications in the online crypto wallet business.

Like all wallets, there is a seed phrase (aka the private key) that allows access to the wallet. This seed phrase is randomly generated when the wallet is initially set up and can be used across most other online wallets and hardware wallets.

The private key is used cryptographically to sign transactions, and in effect proves that the user has ownership of the funds in the wallet. A simple yet detailed explanation of the private/public key partnership is available in our free to use online crypto training course (https://www.curiouscryptos.com/course-modules).

MetaMask has sent out a warning that under very specific circumstances the private key can be accessed by a third party acting maliciously. The conditions are the following:

1) an unencrypted hard drive.

2) having imported a secret recovery phrase into a MetaMask extension on a device that was compromised, stolen, or has unauthorized access.

3) having used the "Show Secret Recovery Phrase" checkbox to view one's secret recovery phrase on-screen during the import process.

If you believe that these three conditions apply to you, you should immediately set up a new MetaMask wallet and transfer your cryptos promptly.

Do it now, don’t wait until tomorrow.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – MetaMask and Ledger Nano

Our online training course discusses in some depth the various wallet options that are available.

MetaMask is a very successful online wallet because of its ease of use, especially in the context of Decentralised Finance.

But there is a better option – and that is to use MetaMask in conjunction with a Ledger Nano, preferably the X but the S is almost as good.

Pop on over to module 1.12 of our free training course to see exactly how to do this.

In the context of the warning sent out by MetaMask about the potential for compromise of your private keys, our ongoing advice to use Ledger Nano becomes increasingly relevant and urgent.