Armed with a photo ID, scammers are successfully duping Twitter into giving them a "Blue check mark" of authenticity so they can impersonate real individuals and entities, all in an effort to bilk users out of money.
"People at home see this as a stamp that Twitter sees this as a good account, which can be very subjective," said Tim Pastoor, founder of the Netherlands-based digital identity startup 2way.io.
By vetting merely the identity behind the account, and not the intent, when issuing blue check marks, Twitter inadvertently makes scams even more dangerous, he continued.
"We dedicate a lot of resources towards combating illegitimate Twitter accounts and educating our users on how to spot them. However, our impact on certain sites is limited."
Just as Facebook lets people control which people they see posts from - friends only, select groups or the public - Twitter could give users more control over who shows up in their feeds.
Twitter declined to comment on any topic related to these events or policy changes in general, but Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey recently admitted that the platform's verification system is broken.
While Twitter has said the blue check mark does not imply its approval or endorsement, Lujan contends, "A person with a check mark has a stronger likelihood of appearing at the top of searches and feeds. What it boils down to is that Twitter verification processes need to be made more clear."
While Twitter's verification process is still uncertain, what remains clear is Twitter's impact on the cryptocurrency markets.
Lucas has seen a clear correlation between tweets from influential Twitter accounts and market volatility.
Lucas has noticed that a lot of Twitter feuds about bitcoin code changes and technical updates correlate to price dips.
Bad Checks: Twitter's Identity Crisis Is Costing Users More Than Bitcoin
gepubliceerd op Apr 20, 2018
by Coindesk | gepubliceerd op Coinage
Coinage
Vermeld in dit artikel
Recent nieuws
Alles zien
Blockchain Bites: Bitcoin's Run, Uniswap's Hemorrhaging Value, Anchorage's Banking Bid
Bitcoin is nearing all-time highs in price and market cap last set three years ago.
Japan's megabanks to lead experiment with digital yen
We have, in order, Cheese Bank with a $3.3 million theft, Akropolis with its $2 million loss, Value DeFi with a whopping $6 million exploit and finally Origin Protocol's loss of $7 million.
Number of new Bitcoin addresses spikes amid growing FOMO
Japan's three largest banks, as part of a group of 30 private sector actors, are set to collaborate on an experiment with a digital yen.
Not just Wall Street: Quant trader explains why Bitcoin price is going up
Sam Trabucco, a quantitative trader at Alameda Research, believes four general factors are pushing up the price of Bitcoin.