MetaCert’s Cryptonite To Combat Crypto Twitter Scams & Free Giveaways

Anyone who has been active on Twitter would have noticed the serious problem of scambots. Anti-fraud company MetaCert has a fix for it, they are calling it Cryptonite.

Cryptonite is MetaCert’s solution to safeguard users from the fraudulent accounts that orchestrate fake giveaways under the guise of industry leaders. Typically, these accounts masquerade as the blockchain industry’s high-profile individuals. Within the Twitter statuses of the individuals in question, these fraudsters mimic verified accounts with picture-perfect doppelgängers, advertising giveaways that ask users to send cryptocurrencies, usually bitcoin or ether, to an address to receive a larger sum in return.

It is a panacea for the unscrupulous practices Twitter can’t fend off on its own. As a browser ad-on, internet users can install Cryptonite on to Chrome, Firefox or Opera. Once active, Cryptonite will display a green shield for legitimate Twitter accounts to give users a green light for their authenticity. Fake accounts, on the other hand, will be blacklisted with a gray shield to warn users to stay away.

META, the network’s token, will be used as an incentives system to keep versifiers honest. Under this model, anyone can submit a suspicious link or identity to the network for scrutiny; once it is evaluated and the network’s verifiers reach a consensus regarding its status, its authenticity or fraudulence is broadcast to the blockchain for reference.

MetaCert is building an open security protocol for the Internet relaying trust and reputation information about Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) including domain names, applications, bots, crypto wallet addresses, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), and content classification.

The Protocol’s registry is machine-readable and queryable for use by Internet Service Providers (ISPs), routers, crypto exchanges, Wi-Fi hotspots, mobile devices, browsers, websites, and applications to help address cyber threats such as phishing, malware, brand protection, child safety, and news credibility.