One of the original promises of crypto was providing access to censorship-proof assets that can be moved in a peer-to-peer manner. But as the ecosystem grew and Ethereum gained popularity, some services became widely used by the majority of people on the network.

Two of these services, Infura and MetaMask, are staples of the crypto ecosystem that are owned in part by the blockchain conglomerate ConsenSys.

ConsenSys also sold a major stake in these services to JPMorgan Chase.

What if your MetaMask wallet could be blocked from the Ethereum network?

Infura provides the infrastructure for many cryptocurrency apps and helps facilitate the transactions. Infura takes care of the nitty-gritty things on Ethereum by hosting nodes that will connect users to the blockchain. 

MetaMask is one of the most popular Ethereum hot wallets, with millions of users worldwide. Since MetaMask uses Infura nodes by default, it can easily cut people out of the Ethereum system. 

This article will dive deep into Infura and MetaMask, as well as the blockchain company behind them to relay the risks and issues of relying on this centralized infrastructure. 

Key Takeaways:
  • Infura is the infrastructure behind Ethereum, the roads that connect apps and users to the blockchain.
  • MetaMask is a crypto wallet that connects users to the Ethereum blockchain through Infura by default.
  • In the past, Infura has shut out people in South America and the Middle East in response to U.S. sanctions.
  • MetaMask and Infura are both owned by ConsenSys, while JPMorgan Chase holds a major stake in both. This is a troubling development for what was meant to be a decentralised network.

Infura: The Road to Etheruem

How do you interact with the Ethereum Virtual Machine and get information from the blockchain? 

In a purely decentralised system, everyone would need to download a client onto their computer. This client program allows you to interface with the Ethereum network so you can see what is happening on the blockchain and also so you can execute transactions. 

But you would need to use a command line interface to do any interactions — using only text and your knowledge of databases and coding. It would essentially require you to build your own road to Ethereum. While that would be a truly decentralised system, it would also be inaccessible to the vast majority of users. 

Instead, decentralised apps often use something called an API to issue calls and commands to Ethereum. Luckily these calls and commands can easily go through on existing roads and infrastructure. Infura acts as the roads that connect this request to the network for you. 

 

Infura is critical for Ethereum infrastructure

Infura is a node provider, allowing people to use existing roads and infrastructure connected to the Ethereum Virtual Machine without having to rebuild it every single time. Providing these services to developers allows them to focus on the apps and smart contracts, making it very easy to build new decentralised apps and protocols. 

It means that you don’t have to set up your own node to connect to the blockchain or host a service. Since Infura built all the roads to Ethereum, it can also control the traffic lights to prevent congestion. As crypto evangelists want mainstream adoption, it may be necessary to have a service that can manage and process information efficiently to keep the network running.

Infura can also manage data and information efficiently to reduce the overall congestion on the blockchain. If someone launched a poorly coded program, it could increase the gas price on the network and cause a lot of problems. 

Instead, this infrastructure can connect people to Ethereum and the IPFS system through standard web protocols like HTTPS and WebSocket. That’s why you can have a hot wallet extension on your web browser and why you’re able to connect to apps hosted on Ethereum through Google Chrome or FireFox.

MetaMask

MetaMask is a browser plugin/extension or downloadable app that can store Ethereum as well as other ERC-20 compliant tokens. This hot wallet makes it easy for users to connect with the blockchain to send transactions, mint NFTs and trade tokens.

If you’re interested in setting up MetaMask, you can read the step-by-step tutorial here.

 

MetaMask Statistics

As of November 2021, there were more than 21 million active MetaMask users (though it isn’t clear how many of these wallets or users belonged to the same individuals). MetaMask has also collected more than $300 million in fees through its native token swap feature.

 

MetaMask Quality

A cryptographer and professor named Matthew Green explored the code underlying some versions of MetaMask in January of 2022 and came away with some uncomfortable conclusions about the quality of the code. 

“What I did come back with is an uncomfortable feeling about the complexity and quality of MetaMask’s (current) crypto code, and some unhappy feelings about its dependency structure.

Some of this stuff is basically unavoidable: file it under “browser crypto is scary.”

Some is specific to the way the code is laid out.

And some of it is a (non-trivial) gripe: this code is is much harder to audit than it should be.”

In coding languages, different libraries are called upon and loaded to execute different functions within the code. To save memory on your computer, MetaMask can’t store every single piece of code known to exist. Instead, it calls on libraries of relevant functions — however there are so many required dependencies to make everything work. If one library or function is no longer supported by its external developers, it could lead to a catastrophic collapse of other parts of the code. 

However, the current code wasn’t available on the GitHub repository that Green assessed. Nonetheless, he had access to the cryptography functions used by MetaMask and noticed some technical issues. For a deeper dive, check out the Twitter thread.

Infura Adoption by Default

Many crypto wallets, apps and extensions, including MetaMask connect to Ethereum through Infura by default.

While it is possible to change which protocol you use to connect to the network, could anyone figure it out on their own?

It takes several steps on MetaMask to change the remote procedure call (RPC) protocol used to interface with the Ethereum blockchain.

For many that use MetaMask as a hot wallet, they will be using Infura without even knowing it. The big problem is that people need to rely and trust these protocols by default when they use MetaMask or other apps that use Infura, including OpenSea.

ConsenSys

ConsenSys is a large blockchain company that owns Infura and MetaMask, essentially controlling key chokepoints of Ethereum’s infrastructure. It was started by one of Ethereum’s own co-founders, Joseph Lubin, and owns many service providers within the Ethereum ecosystem. MetaMask was developed within ConsenSys and Infura was acquired by the company in 2019.

 

Centralising services makes them easier to shut down.

The Ethereum ecosystem is still controlled by one of the early founders. This doesn’t really vibe well with the notion that cryptocurrency is a decentralised or democratising world. 

In response to US sanctions in March of 2022, Infura blocked off a lot of users in Venezuela, Iran and Lebanon, from the network. 

That means users could not use Infura-based services through MetaMask nor could they transact on OpenSea. Infura later apologised for blocking users too broadly. 

This seems antithetical to the notion of censorship proof, decentralised networks. If Infura’s nodes are taken down, it could significantly impact the Ethereum ecosystem, shutting many users out of it.

JPMorgan and Infura

While the cryptocurrency movement was started in response to a recession caused by large financial institutions, these very same financial institutions are moving into crypto. 

A group of 35 shareholders of ConsenSys filed for an audit of a JPMorgan  Chase deal which gave the bank a large stake in MetaMask and Infura. This deal allegedly resulted in intellectual property and subsidiaries illegally transferred to a new entity called ConsenSys Software Incorporated. 

Of course, Ethereum’s co-founder is the majority shareholder of this new entity as well. This information only came out in 2022 but has already drawn comparisons between the dealings in Web 3.0 and the current state of the internet.

Conclusion

The second most popular cryptocurrency which was meant to provide censorship proof services to users around the world is becoming more centralised. 

The “roads” that connect many apps and wallets to the Ethereum blockchain belong to Infura. MetaMask, one of the most popular crypto wallets, connects everyone to Infura’s roads by default and it isn’t easy for the average user to change that.

Both Infura and MetaMask are owned by ConsenSys, which in turn was founded by one of Ethereum’s co-founders.

This doesn’t really represent a decentralised, censorship-proof system as it runs through one major company.

In the past, Infura has broadley shut out people from the Ethereum blockchain in response to U.S. sanctions.

ConsenSys has also quietly sold off a sizeable chunk of Infura and MetaMask to JPMorgan Chase, a large traditional financial institution that now profits off of the crypto ecosystem.