The company Phantom, a major provider of wallets for the Solana ecosystem, is facing a technical crisis following a faulty update to its iOS application which resulted in the disconnection of many users. An emergency fix has been deployed, but the situation remains worrying for those who have lost their recovery phrases.
Phantom crypto wallets on iOS hit by major outage
On November 14, 2024, users of the Phantom app on iOS began reporting major malfunctions after installing an update. The main issue involves the app resetting unexpectedly, forcing users to restore their wallets via their recovery phrases.
This situation has particularly affected holders who have not carefully preserved these secret phrases, potentially depriving them of access to their crypto assets.
The seriousness of the situation quickly became apparent on social media, where many users reported significant losses. One investor notably reported losing access to a wallet containing the equivalent of $600,000, while others saw their balances mysteriously disappear overnight.
Faced with this crisis, Phantom quickly acknowledged the problem on his X account, calling the incident an issue affecting “a small number of iOS users.”
Phantom's response and the limits of possible support
Phantom's reaction revolved around two main axes. First, the company immediately released a patch to stop the spread of the problem. Then, it set up dedicated assistance for affected users, while reminding the limits of its possible intervention.
Indeed, as a non-custodial wallet, Phantom does not store its users' recovery phrases, in line with crypto's decentralization principles.
This feature, usually considered a security advantage, becomes problematic in this particular context, because the company cannot directly help users who have lost their recovery phrases.
This situation highlights the critical importance of safeguarding recovery phrases in the crypto world, where the responsibility for security rests largely with the end user.
In the immediate future, Phantom recommends that affected users contact their support team, while committing to taking the necessary measures to prevent this situation from recurring in the future.
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