Rather unexpectedly (at least to founder Kosala “kvhnuke” Hemachandra), MyEtherWallet (MEW) has split (forked) to form a new company called MyCrypto, run by Taylor “tayvano” Monahan.
Think of it like BitcoinCash after the Bitcoin fork last year. Both sides believe they have the best vision and solution for Ethereum users. While practically identical (except for branding), this will no doubt will change as MyCrypto races to differentiate and provide additional services — a desktop and web wallet are expected, with Beta testing likely in the next few weeks. Kosala has responded to reassure existing users of MyEtherWallet, and promised continued improvements.
The story started off in a positive way with the launch announcement of the new MyCrypto. Taylor is one of the original partners of MEW and has been the driving force behind MEW’s Twitter account and marketing. It appears she’s also the key leader for the staff, with all (or the majority) switching to MyCrypto along with her. Things rapidly went south after that. Kosala appeared to be taken by surprise by the departure, tweeting that the Twitter account change was ‘ improper, perhaps unlawful’. Add in a pre-existing lawsuit (see analysis), and speculation went wild.
Both sides have stable software. MEW has the users and reputation, as well as the GitHub repository, domain, and AWS instances. MyCrypto has the staff, and the Twitter account — which may or may not turn out to be an advantage given many in the crypto community are outraged by the handling of the split, describing it as a theft of the MEW Twitter account (See Crypto Insider article). Others have come out in support of the MyCrypto team.
Personally, I would have liked to see more differentiation between the logos. MyCrypto has stayed fairly close colour-wise, perhaps aiming to remain familiar. I can’t help wondering whether this will be a negative in the long run.
What does this all mean for the users of MEW and new users? What should you do?
You can follow both Twitter feeds to stay on top of announcements. If you followed MEW before, you are now following MyCrypto due to the account being renamed. The new MEW Twitter handle is MyEtherWallet.
If you are concerned about your crypto being safe, it should be unaffected by this change — both Taylor and Kosala reassure. MEW, and likewise MyCrypto, isn’t (currently) a wallet in itself, it is an interface to create and to access the Ethereum blockchain. You can still use it with your Trezor, Ledger, MetaMask etc.
‘What?! It’s not a wallet?! What craziness is this?’ you may be asking incredulously, ‘it says ‘Wallet’ in the name!’. Its a fine distinction I know. It creates wallets, yes, that you store on your computer (or better, on an offline USB… or on paper). It lets you access existing wallets. You can create a wallet in MEW and access it in MyCrypto (yes, I checked). You can use either of them to interact with your Trezor, Ledger, MetaMask or other wallet (I did not check). You can even download the MEW code and run it yourself — see explanation from Taylor.
Why am I making the distinction? It means you don’t need to worry if MEW and MyCrypto are hacked (providing you weren’t using them at the time) or taken offline. They don’t hold your information, you hold it. It also means that you, not them, are responsible for managing your wallet and its security. If you keep your JSON file or private key on your computer, and it is hacked, well… my sincere condolences.
As to the future? Keep an eye out for updates from both companies. With new competitors and a pending legal case, anything could happen.
(Thank you for reading, this is my first article on Medium)
