DApp store for your wallet: Consensys readying cross-chain Metamask Snaps

September 6, 2023 Coin Telegraph

The upcoming MetaMask Snaps will allow users to interact with different blockchains like Bitcoin and Solana from inside their MetaMask wallet.

MetaMask’s eagerly awaited Snaps will allow users to interact with a variety of different blockchain networks, receive updates from projects and will help demystify what’s happening in complex transactions, says Consensys head of strategy Simon Morris.

Speaking to Cointelegraph on Sept. 6 at Korea Blockchain Week, Morris shared that MetaMask Snaps will function a lot like an Apple App Store for the crypto wallet, allowing third-party developers to launch new decentralized applications (DApps) — dubbed Snaps — that expand MetaMask’s functionality.

Morris explained the first round of released Snaps will undergo security checks and be whitelisted by developers at Consensys. In the future, the goal is to make the process as permissionless as releasing apps on the web.

The upgrade — which Morris said is coming sometime later this year — will see users download third-party extensions to their MetaMask wallet.

These will allow them to use their MetaMask wallet with non-EVM chains including Bitcoin, Solana, Avalanche and Starknet.

“MetaMask starts with a massive assumption there's going to be an EVM or something very like Ethereum, so what we’re targeting for the first release is making MetaMask interoperable with other non-EVM chains.”

Snaps will also help to reduce the obscurity around signing transactions. Morris admitted at present, users are oftentimes left feeling confused or intimidated when confirming transactions and hinted that some of the soon-to-be-released Snaps will help make the process of signing transactions and assessing smart contracts less opaque at first glance.

Another feature set to be enabled by Snaps will allow developers to send messages to users internally on MetaMask.

Instead of users having to navigate to the website or social media account of a project for updates — the upgrades will enable a “communication layer between DApp developers and their users.”

For those wanting a taste of Snaps, Morris said users can download an application called MetaMask Flask but warned that it’s very much a tool for developers.

On Sept. 5 MetaMask introduced its newest “sell” feature, allowing users in the United States, United Kingdom and parts of Europe to exchange Ether (ETH) for fiat currency that can be sent directly to a bank account.

We are beyond thrilled to announce our latest feature: Sell.

Yes, you read that right. Available on MetaMask Portfolio, ‘Sell’ allows you to cash out your crypto for fiat currency easily.

Discover more at https://t.co/aaSgTswEMo pic.twitter.com/pJa1ZndLQA
— MetaMask (@MetaMask) September 5, 2023

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DEA gets duped: Agency loses $55K in address poisoning scam

August 25, 2023 Coin Telegraph

DEA gets duped: Agency loses K in address poisoning scam

$50K

The DEA, the country's lead drug enforcement agency, is yet to find those responsible for the attack but has enlisted the help of the FBI.

The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) — the agency tasked with enforcing the country’s drug laws — lost $55,000 in seized Tether (USDT) earlier this year at the hands of a scammer.

Forbes reported on Aug. 24 that in May, the agency seized over $500,000 worth of USDT from two Binance accounts it suspected of laundering money from drug sales as part of a multi-year investigation.

The funds were put in DEA-controlled Trezor crypto wallets and stored securely, according to a search warrant seen by Forbes. As part of standard forfeiture processing the DEA sent a test amount of just over $45 worth of USDT to the U.S. Marshals Service.

An on-chain sleuth picked up on the transaction and then quickly set up a crypto wallet with the same first five and last four characters of the Marshals account — a scam tactic known as “address poisoning.”

The scammer airdropped a token to the DEA’s wallet so that the spoofed address will appear as a recent transaction, and thus tricking the owner into accidentally transferring funds to the wrong address.

I almost got hit by an address poisoning scam.

Sent a second tx to someone just after the first, and was lazy and just copy pasted his address from my transaction history.

Yup, copy pasted the poison tx address.

Just before confirming, @Rabby_io informed me that I had never… pic.twitter.com/XlHPTs8PZy
— N̴̡̩̠̻̩͜͝a̴͍͙̫̹̅u̶̼̠̭͐̂͘h̷͇̻̭̚c̴͉͈̎̂̅͗̉̈́̆͑̍̀ (@nauhcner) April 18, 2023

The tactic worked against the DEA agent, who sent over $55,000 to the scammer.

By the time the Marshals noticed and alerted the DEA who in turn asked Tether to freeze the funds it was too late.

The USDT had already been swapped for Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) and then shifted to different crypto wallets.

The DEA alongside the FBI is investigating the incident and is yet to find whose behind the attack. All they’ve found so far are two Binance accounts that paid for the attacker wallet gas fees which used two Gmail email addresses to sign up.

It's hoped Google has some information that can be used to nab the owner of the Gmail accounts.

The DEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Hidden as colors, crypto seed phrases could hide in plain sight, says dev

July 14, 2023 Coin Telegraph

BIP39 colors

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Entero Positivo argued typical seed phrase storage methods are too obvious, so he devised a way to hide a crypto wallet in plain sight.

A newly released tool called “BIP39 Colors” is turning Bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto wallet seed phrases into colors — giving users a potentially new way to hold their funds in cold storage.

The developer, only known as Entero Positivo — Spanish for “positive integer” — released BIP39 Colors on June 25, which helps translate a 12- or 24-word wallet seed phrase into an unassuming and seemingly random array of colors.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Positivo said he created the tool because seed phrases will always need to be backed up somewhere physically and someone “seeing something with 12 or 24 written words is very obvious. [...] Many people know what it means.”

“Where and how do I store my words? Written on paper? On a titanium plate? What if a thief thoroughly searches my house and finds the paper with 12 words written on it?” he said.

BIP39 Colors translates a BIP39 mnemonic to colors and viceversa.

Check out the tool :https://t.co/IGrq8LlCXu

- It obfuscates your mnemonic phrase
- You can save each color independently without any order (at home, in css files, png images, ...)
- Color codes are… pic.twitter.com/Td2sm3igVt
— Entero Positivo (@EnteroPositivo) June 25, 2023

Explaining how it works, Positivo said the tool converts BIP39 words — the 2,048-long list of words used to create seed phrases — into eight or 16 colors alongside their hex codes depending on if a 12- or 24-word phrase is used.

*An example of a color palette generated using 12 random BIP39 words. Source: Enteropositivo.github.io*

However, the hex color codes don’t just represent the BIP39 word, explained Positivo. It also dictates the position of that word in the seed phrase.

“The colors are generated in such a way that they carry part of the information of the position occupied by the BIP39 words and information related to their position,” he explained.

This allows for the phrase to be backed up “in a disorderly way and in several different places,” and as “colors are everywhere,” it can make storing a seed phrase “less obvious to any hacker or thief who gains access to our house or computer.”

*AI-generated image depicting what artwork designed using Positivo’s tool could look like. Source: Stability.ai*

To ensure the utmost safety, Positivo suggested that users should not use his tool on an internet-connected device. Rather it should be downloaded and used offline, or better yet, the color swatch can even be created manually using a calculator.

Though it happens infrequently, crypto users have had their entire seed phrases exposed publicly before.

In a viral video in late 2022, a Nevada police officer’s body camera footage inadvertently caught a glimpse of a suspect’s seed phrase written on a slip of paper. The footage later became part of the public record, allowing anyone to see the phrase.

Collect this article as an NFT to preserve this moment in history and show your support for independent journalism in the crypto space.

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