Solana-based wallet provider Phantom has launched a new burn feature that allows users to remove NFTs (non-fungible tokens) sent by scammers.
According to an August 18 blog post from the Phantom team, the new feature is accessible via the Burn Token tab in the Phantom wallet app, allowing users to receive a miniscule deposit from Solana (SOL) every time they use it.
“We are still in the Wild West days of Web 3.0. As the cryptocurrency ecosystem grows, so does the number of bad actors looking for ways to steal user funds. The rapid growth in popularity of cryptocurrency NFTs have led to an increasingly prevalent method of attack for fraudsters: spam NFTs.”
Phantom noted that the problem has been particularly frequent on Solana due to its low transaction fees, with bad actors often allegedly giving away mass NFTs containing malicious links.
Spam NFTs typically ask the recipient to click on a link to mint a free NFT; however, if you complete the process, your funds end up being drained from your wallet. On the other hand, the link will ask the recipient to enter its seed phrase, with the same result.
“These scams are getting more sophisticated. For example, after a contract address and domain are identified as malicious, scammers can change the metadata of NFTs to try to avoid being blocked. It can feel like a never-ending game.” of ‘whack-a-mole'”, reads in the blog post.
The move is part of a broader initiative by Phantom to counter spam NFTs and bad actors in this space. The team claimed that it also fights scammers through its phishing alert system, that warns users about “any malicious transactions that may compromise their assets or permissions” after clicking on dubious links.
5/ While we’re introducing NFT burning and improved phishing alerts today, we’re not stopping there. Users can look forward to more automated spam detection in the future.
To read more about how we’re fighting wallet spam, check out our latest blog post:https://t.co/OZYOEvVIFH
— Phantom (@phantom) August 17, 2022
The post adds that Phantom is currently collaborating with Blowfish to improve the way we “alert users of phishing attempts.”
“While we’re introducing NFT burning today, we’re not stopping there. Users can look forward to more automated spam detection in the future. Using providers like SimpleHash and our own internal reporting, we’ll be able to gauge whether NFTs are likely to be spam,” read in the post.
Phantom is one of the most popular wallet providers for Solana-based NFTs and decentralized fiats (DeFi), with more than 2 million monthly active users according to the company.
In early August, the competing wallet company, Slope, suffered a security breach that caused some $8 million worth of funds to be drained from the Solana blockchain.
In a post-mortem analysis, Solana’s head of communications, Austin Fedora, found that 60% of the attack victims were Phantom users, even though the problem stemmed from Slope.
Solana hosted the second highest volume of NFT sales in July, with $56.1 milliontrailing only Ethereum, which posted a whopping $535.6 million, according to data from CryptoSlam.
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