The developers of the non-custodial wallet MetaMask warned that users from certain jurisdictions may lose access to the app. The corresponding notice appeared on the project’s site in the support section.
According to the release, potential blocks are linked to restricted operation of the Infura infrastructure platform in a number of countries. The team explained the step was necessary to “comply with the law”.
The notification page includes a screenshot of the error message that pops up when attempting to connect from affected regions. The list of jurisdictions in which the wallet is unavailable has not been published.
Users in Venezuela, Lebanon and Iran reported access problems with MetaMask.
Que demonios es este error en mi meta…mask desde esta tarde? y como se arregla? en ETH pic.twitter.com/BU5NC4od5w
— Antonio Di Caprio (@ajdicaprio) March 3, 2022
To circumvent potential restrictions, the community advised using VPN services.
Dear friends in #Venezuela wanting to use #Crypto:
1. Get a VPN like @NordVPN or similar
2. Use Metamask or any competitor like @iSafePal or @coin98_walletStay safe and good luck out there. https://t.co/4Ur7dFRg2K
— EnigmaFunge (@EnigmaFund) March 3, 2022
In response to the social-media buzz, Infura team explained the problem was caused by an incorrect configuration of platform parameters during changes to align with “new sanctions directives from the US and other jurisdictions”.
mistakenly configured the settings more broadly than they needed to. This was our oversight, and we are grateful that it was pointed out to us. Once we determined what happened, we were able to fix the problem, and service has been restored.
— Infura (@infura_io) March 3, 2022
“We want you to know that we have fixed the issue that many of you pointed out. By changing some configurations in response to new sanctions directives from the US and other jurisdictions, we accidentally configured the parameters to a broader scope than needed. […] We were able to fix the issue; service has been restored,” Infura wrote.
According to Reddit users, MetaMask warned of potential blocks for users from sanction jurisdictions as early as April 2021.
Following the invasion of Ukraine, cryptocurrency exchanges Kuna, WhiteBIT and CEX.io imposed restrictions on Russian users.
Russian clients were also blocked by the South Korean platform Gopax.
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