A Review of MetaMask: Bringing Ethereum to your Browser

MetaMask is an intuitive, user-friendly online digital wallet for managing, transferring, and receiving ETH and ERC-20 tokens.

It is a web browser extension which bridges your browser to the Ethereum blockchain, allowing you to fully interact with Ethereum without running a full node.

You can install MetaMask on Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Brave Browsers, although it isn’t available for the less functional Edge Browser.

MetaMask is one of the top wallet DApps, currently ranked 41st of the the wallet DApps on State of the DApps although based on my experience of using it over the last 18 months I personally think it deserves a higher ranking, and I’ll explain why in the following review.

Getting started with MetaMask

One of the strengths of MetaMask is its user-friendliness, and it is very easy to set up in just a few minutes.

You need to go to MetaMask.io — get and add the appropriate MetaMask extension to your browser, at which point the ‘fox icon’ will appear in your browser short cuts.

You then simply click on the ‘fox icon’ to create a new MetaMask account and password (taking careful note of your twelve word seed phrase in the process), and then you’re good to go.

This video on the MetaMask website outlines how to set up MetaMask in clear step by step instructions:

I honestly can’t improve on this, and I thoroughly recommend that you watch it and follow the very clear instructions if you want to set up this cryptocurrency wallet.

MetaMask’s main features

It’s very easy to purchase ETH through Metamask, which you can do through one of two integrated exchanges: either Coinbase or Shapeshift. There’s even an option for crypto-newbies to create a CoinBase account on the fly when they first install MetaMask

To send ETH and ERC20 tokens all you need to do is to click ‘send’, enter the amount and the public key of the account you want to send to and confirm the send; and to receive tokens, you simply need to share your public key.

All transactions are paid for in gas fees, and you can either accept MetaMask’s default gas option (medium speed) or reduce/ increase the gas fees for a cheaper and slower/ more expensive and faster transaction.

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There is an option to easily view any ETH or ERC20 transactions on Etherscan.

Integration with ERC20 DApps

A final key feature of Metamask is that it also integrates with many ERC-20 DApps, offering you the easiest way to interact with many of these DApps, for example:

• Cryptokitties: MetaMask allows you to easily create, send and sell your kitties.
• It integrates with the XR Web, allowing you to stake XR tokens for potential future advertising revenue
• One of the requirements for the Etherplay site is to have MetaMask installed, allowing you access to various games built on the Ethereum blockchain.

</center_Easy>Metamask allows for easy integration with Cryptokitties and many other Dapps

What I like about MetaMask

• You can download and set it up within minutes, and it’s even built in to the Brave browser!
• It’s very user friendly: it has an intuitive user interface; and you can set up more than one account and access them with the same password.
• Hierarchical Deterministic Settings allow for account back up — and you can use your twelve-word seed phrase to import accounts to multiple devices.
• It’s Open Source — meaning the code is constantly being updated and improved by many developers.
• There is excellent support available on the website.
• There is a vibrant community — with over 1 million users and 40K followers on Twitter.

Room for improvement

• It isn’t available for the Microsoft Edge browser (although some might see this as an advantage)
• It is an online wallet, so doesn’t have the security of cold storage. It would thus be advisable to only store only enough ETH and ERC20 tokens as you need for ‘use purposes’ with MetaMask and keep the rest in cold storage.
• The fact that it’s online means it’s vulnerable to phishing attacks, so it’s advisable to have only one browser window open when using MetaMask to minimise this risk.

Conclusion and rating

Metamask offers a very accessible way to integrate with the Ethereum network and to store ERC20 tokens, however the fact that it’s browser based means privacy and security may be a concern for some, thus i’m going to give this 4/5 stars.

Find out more

• Metamask.io
• MetaMask on State of the Dapps.