An online digital wallet that allows users to manage, transfer and receive Ethereum, operating as an extension to a regular browser.
What is MetaMask?
The cryptocurrency wallet was created in 2016 by ConsenSys, a Brooklyn-based blockchain software company focusing on Ethereum-related tools and infrastructure.
A HD wallet, or hierarchical deterministic wallet, is a next-generation digital wallet that automatically generates a hierarchical tree-like structure of private and/or public addresses. This takes the issue away from the user, as otherwise the key would have to be generated externally.
One of MetaMask’s key features is the use of a 12-word phrase that has to be kept safe or to remembered by the user, as it will be required in the event of forgetting a password.
Due to its success in the cryptocurrency community, the lack of an official mobile website for several years led to malicious actors to develop phishing software that posed as MetaMask’s mobile app.