Developer of Popular MetaMask Wallet Reduces Customer Data Retention to 7 Days After Backlash From Community

ConsenSys, the developer of the popular crypto wallet MetaMask, has reduced the retention of MetaMask user data to 7 days following massive community backlash.

In a recent blog post, the company announced its data retention update, reducing the amount of time it will keep user data such as wallet addresses and IP addresses, to seven days. 

As reported, ConsenSys updated its privacy policy in late November, revealing that it will start collecting certain user-provided data, such as identity information (name, username, gender, date of birth, etc.), profile information (including username and password), contact, financial and transaction information, among others. 

ConsenSys also revealed that its other product – Infura – collects users’ IP addresses whenever they send a transaction. As a Remote Procedure Call (RPC) provider, Infura is a critical cog in the Web3 infrastructure because it connects the wallet to smart contracts on a blockchain.

The update was met with criticism from crypto community members who expressed concern about their on-chain privacy. “The update ignited a variety of public and internal conversations around how we could better prioritize the privacy of MetaMask and Infura users,” ConsenSys said in the latest announcement. 

The company added that after spending the last week digging into some of the issues that were raised as a result of their recent update, they are planning some updates. 

“We retain and delete user data such as IP address and wallet address pursuant to our data retention policy,” ConsenSys said. “We are working on narrowing retention to 7 days and we will append these retention policies to our privacy policy in an upcoming update.”

The company also explained that they only collect wallet and IP address information “to ensure successful transaction propagation, execution, and other important service functionality” such as load balancing and DDoS protection.

“We have never and will never sell any user data we collect. We use data strictly in adherence with the use limitations described in our privacy policy.”

Furthermore, ConsenSys said it aims to build a new advanced settings page to give all new users the opportunity to choose their own RPC during onboarding and thereafter due to the community backlash. Users have the option to opt out of Infura and choose a third-party RPC. 

ConsenSys is a blockchain software technology company based in New York City. The company is behind some of the biggest projects within the Ethereum ecosystem, including uPort, Metamask, Civil, Truffle, and Gnosis.