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Topic: Why isnt there a BTC browser wallet like Metamask (Read 431 times)

hero member
Activity: 868
Merit: 1094
September 22, 2022, 02:46:31 AM
#33
To be honest I don't see any difference between software based and extension based, because extension is way more not secure than the software based. You're need to use hardware wallet if you want to hold for long term purpose or have significant amount of Bitcoin.
Let me categorize the wallets according the how safe they are.

The safest are the cold wallets. Wallets that falls into this category are paper wallet generated on airgapped device. Another cold wallet are the wallets generated on airgapped device. Also hardware wallets can be regraded as cold wallets. Cold wallets are the safest because their private keys are not online and not generated online.

Followed by desktop and mobile wallet. They are still better than web wallets.

Web wallets are most susceptible to attacks. Not worth going for at all.
hero member
Activity: 770
Merit: 556
So you're only looking a Bitcoin wallet that can be used as extensions and not looking by the safety, open source, non custodial, features etc? You can check Jaxx liberty wallet, but I'm not recommend you to use that wallet since it's not safety and secure, I'm just talking Bitcoin wallet by extensions.

To be honest I don't see any difference between software based and extension based, because extension is way more not secure than the software based. You're need to use hardware wallet if you want to hold for long term purpose or have significant amount of Bitcoin.
hero member
Activity: 666
Merit: 516
Fuck BlackRock
Mpurse for Monacoin and Monaparty + Tokens. Comes from MetaMask, has its own features. Works like Web3 wallet/signs and interacts with dapp pages for the Counterparty derived Monaparty... Works great just w MONA txn. Looks just like MetaMask on Chrome. Monacoin Core v0.20.3 also is based off Bitcoin Core's codebase and not Litecoin's for the first time. Intriguing to say the least since it is a UTXO chain.
mk4
legendary
Activity: 2716
Merit: 3817
Paldo.io 🤖
I think browser wallet extensions are just centralized as this crypto exchanges even though you have those private keys or seeds.

I mean, most Bitcoin/crypto wallets in general have always been centralized; with probably only Bitcoin Core(and probably Electrum?) being actually somewhat decentralized. And it's fine! A centralized wallet can still be a good wallet, as long as it's open-source.
hero member
Activity: 2002
Merit: 578
There's a browser wallet extension made by crypto.com, a known crypto exchange but I just don't know if they support Bitcoin in it, or it's just something like wrapped tokens. Just from recent news when Metamask was involved on El Salvador-Infura case, I think browser wallet extensions are just centralized as this crypto exchanges even though you have those private keys or seeds.
hero member
Activity: 2492
Merit: 586
I still use Electrum the few times when I send BTC transactions, but just today i thought about, why isnt there a Browser extension wallet for BTC like Metamask for ethereum?
Not quite like Metamask because it's not a browser extension wallet, but there is a very famous online Bitcoin wallet which you'd normally use in a browser. It is Blockchain digital wallet. Many don't trust it, many don't like it. I used to store my BTC there, and even though I had no issues and I don't think it's a scam or that they actually have access to private keys of their users or anything, Electrum isn't that hard to use and it's way more trusted, so I eventually switched to it. If you're already using Electrum, I suggest you stick to it.
I think metamask originally started as a browser extension but later on they implement a mobile app but for electrum, they originally started as a crypto wallet. Don't know if there are crypto wallets which now has a browser extension but I think there is non yet. All that I see so far, had the same origin as metamask and most of them stays like this even after a long time.

I guess they don't have a plan to totally copy metamask and will also develop their own app. Blockchain wallet is a browser wallet and this isn't the one the OP wants to have tho you are right that blockchain have gotten worse lately. Lots of complaints are being thrown at them while I haven't heard much of complaints in electrum.
legendary
Activity: 2240
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I am not much tech guy but most likely it's a matter of a smart contract where users can connect the wallet to complete the transaction. Bitcoin doesn't have such functionality to deploy the smart contract. So it's unnecessary to create a wallet like metamask where you can't connect the wallet. Likely you may create it just as a regular wallet. Do you think this idea just came to your mind? I don't think, there are a lot of dev would think if it was possible.
legendary
Activity: 2002
Merit: 1072
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I do agree that something like that could work, but the main reason why metamask got big is not ETH or BNB that you can use, it is the projects connected to the chains of these projects. These days 90% of all projects are either ERC20 based or BSC based and that means we are going to use metamask to join those projects, and that is why we do not have any big deals about bitcoin because only reason to use bitcoin would be bitcoin itself and not something else.

Considering how big the projects based on those chains became, it was normal for everyone to download metamask and then start using it, millions of people use it every day to participate in smaller projects.
legendary
Activity: 3094
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I still use Electrum the few times when I send BTC transactions, but just today i thought about, why isnt there a Browser extension wallet for BTC like Metamask for ethereum?
Not quite like Metamask because it's not a browser extension wallet, but there is a very famous online Bitcoin wallet which you'd normally use in a browser. It is Blockchain digital wallet. Many don't trust it, many don't like it. I used to store my BTC there, and even though I had no issues and I don't think it's a scam or that they actually have access to private keys of their users or anything, Electrum isn't that hard to use and it's way more trusted, so I eventually switched to it. If you're already using Electrum, I suggest you stick to it.
legendary
Activity: 3444
Merit: 10558
No one dares to do so because of the high risk of getting hacked and they will be likely sued by most of the people who use their wallets.
Almost all the tools like these are being released under licenses that prevents you from suing them if you end up losing any money. You should be able to find it under the Terms of Services for web wallets or if it is some sort of open source browser based extension or tool you should look at its license on github.
For example if something is released under MIT license you agree that any damages or loss is not the developer's fault before you begin using it.
hero member
Activity: 2184
Merit: 585
You own the pen
No one dares to do so because of the high risk of getting hacked and they will be likely sued by most of the people who use their wallets. So, No! as we know, sometimes there was an incidence where people can easily mimic an add-on wallet and spread it and you know what's surprising? it only needs a short time to execute its attack and thousands of dollars will be lost. Just like what happened with the ETH hack using browser cookies back then.
full member
Activity: 616
Merit: 102
If you are tired of using MetaMask you can also use a Blockchain wallet to store your Bitcoins and it is very safe, because Blockchain is a technology that is used as a digital storage system or cryptographically connected data bank. Its use is inseparable from Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, so your Bitcoins are very safe and can be used wherever you are, because Blockchain also has applications for cell phones.
member
Activity: 122
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Thermofinance.Com
Browser extension wallets are very risky that's why I always recommend hardware wallets or computer software wallets. They are very rare. Hardware wallets don't have risks, but desktop wallets have mild risks, but I use hardware wallets for security reasons. Actually, desktop wallets and hardware wallets are very necessary for bitcoins, I don't think web extension wallets provide as much security. Speaking of me, my metamask has been hacked several times and my friends have also been hacked, so I never use metamask now.
legendary
Activity: 3444
Merit: 10558
If you hold WBTC, you're going to need to trust that WBTC's custodian is backing the WBTC with BTC 1:1.
That's not enough though since even if they had bitcoin 1:1 they are still owning those bitcoins and they can decide to never swap bitcoins for their own shitcoin or sell those bitcoins and go away. There is nothing people can do about it.
mk4
legendary
Activity: 2716
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Paldo.io 🤖
I think avoiding it because for security reasons it's not because it doesn't exist, it might be there if you look for it and I'm sure you will also lose your bitcoins if you use a wallet in a browser plugin, you should hold the btc in the ethereum wbtc network so you can store it in metamask or other

If you hold WBTC, you're going to need to trust that WBTC's custodian is backing the WBTC with BTC 1:1. That's a huge unnecessary risk to take just so you can hold your "bitcoin" on a browser plugin. Honestly wouldn't do this unless you have a certain yield farming strategy you want to temporary take advantage of(assuming you totally know what you're doing as well).
legendary
Activity: 2828
Merit: 1497
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Using a web-based wallet is unheard of using nowadays especially for bitcoin.
I remember using one when I was just getting acquainted in using this newly created asset of the digital space.
But it was more of a learning tool then to use as a daily driver for anything valuable enough to be concerned of losing if it did not work or hacked into.

Mostly everything that was related to being browser based has been transitioned into an app.
Such as blockchain.info(.com now) and Jaxx which is one I was referring to at beginning of this post.

Haven't used them in a long time and they had since changed their name to Jaxx Liberty.
But has since had people complaining of having their wallets hacked more frequently.
https://www.reddit.com/r/jaxx/comments/l86gi0/jaxx_liberty_wallet_hacked_need_help
legendary
Activity: 2212
Merit: 7064
Cashback 15%
I still use Electrum the few times when I send BTC transactions, but just today i thought about, why isnt there a Browser extension wallet for BTC like Metamask for ethereum?
There are some extension you can use as Bitcoin wallet, but I wouldn't suggest anyone should use this instead of Electrum wallet.
Many extensions can turn out to be a scam so watch out for that, but I think Liquality wallet is acceptable and it can be used as exchange with atomic swaps.
Safepal released their browser extension but it's closed source and I don't recommend anyone should use it.
 



legendary
Activity: 3080
Merit: 1500
I still use Electrum the few times when I send BTC transactions, but just today i thought about, why isnt there a Browser extension wallet for BTC like Metamask for ethereum?

It is very easy for hackers to gain control of your browser. So wallets like Metamask is not really safe. This is good for micro transactions but if you are holding a good amount of money in your Metamask wallet, it is not really recommend!

Probably that's the reason no developer has yet created a secured browser extension like Metamask. It is always best to use a desktop or hardware wallet if you are holding some good amount of bitcoins. Electrum is quite good and used by a lot of fellow forum members.
sr. member
Activity: 1764
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I think avoiding it because for security reasons it's not because it doesn't exist, it might be there if you look for it and I'm sure you will also lose your bitcoins if you use a wallet in a browser plugin, you should hold the btc in the ethereum wbtc network so you can store it in metamask or other
legendary
Activity: 3458
Merit: 6231
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Beyond the security implications, there seems to be nobody asking for it. If there were people asking / talking about it more people would be writing them and we would be discussing them.

I would not really want to use one for real amounts of money, but for keeping small amounts, under $25 or so, it might not be the worst. If you are only using 1 PC and occasionally want to get something with BTC having a high risk, vulnerable hot wallet with that amount give or take could be handy. No going for the HW wallet, or anything else. Obviously everyone would have their own amount of BTC they would be willing to risk.

-Dave
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