MetaMask has allowed users to authenticate themselves to online services safely using its cryptocurrency wallet by implementing the EIP-4361 standard.

This standard’s primary objective is to give Ethereum account holders a more consistent method for authenticating themselves while using off-chain services. The wallet project collaborated with Spruce, a digital identification and data supplier, to accomplish this connection.

Users of wallet projects like MetaMask can sign a standard message format to log in to websites once EIP-4361 is implemented. Users who browse supported websites will get a pop-up prompting them to examine various facts, such as the website name, session details, and security methods, such as a nonce, and validate the right domain name. 

This is done to prevent unauthorized access from dangerous websites. This provides a decentralized identity storage option as an alternative to centralized identity providers like email or phone numbers.

The Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 4361, also known as the “sign-in with ethereum” method, was first presented by developers in 2021 as a means for wallet providers to allow authentication using an Ethereum wallet for use with off-chain services.

MetaMask is not the first wallet provider to implement such security criteria. Phantom, a competing wallet service, also deployed a counterpart of ERC-4361 to the Solana blockchain in February.