mobile crypto wallets

How to make money with Coin98 mobile wallet

Crypto KP Crypto wallet news, Uncategorized , ,
make money with coin 98 mobile wallet

In this post we’re going to answer the critical questions you need to know about how to make money with the new and much lauded Coin98 Mobile Wallet.

Coin98 is a new crypto project from South East Asia building up a suite of DeFi products many of which you can access on the Coin 98 mobile wallet app.

Coin 98 mobile wallet – the ultimate DeFI gateway

The wallet is unique for its multi-chain capabilities as we explain below. These capabilities are designed to make it easier, faster and more simple than ever to transact crypto and interact with DeFi protocols. You can earn crypto from the one wallet regardless of what chain the DeFi protocol is built on. For this reason, its a great starter crypto wallet for anyone new to crypto because the in wallet capabilities save you from making mistakes that might otherwise mean your crypto is lost for good.

Like most crypto projects, Coin98 has its own token C98. You can buy C98 directly on Binance, which is the highest volume crypto exchange and the one we recommend. To get 5% off all spot trading fees on Binance in perpetuity (and this can add up!), set up an account using our link.

C98 token is transacted on three blockchains – Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain and Solana. C98 is a governance token and you can also stake C98 and earn rewards and Airdrops by holding the token. C98 token took off when recently listed on Binance but unlike other new tokens has held its value well, which is a promising sign for the project.

How to download Coin98 mobile wallet

The mobile wallet app is available for iOS and Android phones. Here is a link to the project page and from here you can link to the App. We do this because there are so many fake mobile wallet apps out there trying to part you from your money. We link to the source developer so you have the legitimate developer link to the App.

The first thing to know is that when you go into Google Play or Apple’s App store you’ll see two Apps from the same developer – Coin98 Finance. You need to download the Coin98 Wallet. The other App – Coin 98 insights – is an information and research hub only.

Once you’ve downloaded the Wallet you’ll be prompted to set a pin code to get access. You have the option of enabling face ID after your Pin is set.

Coin98 mobile wallet features we love

When you open the wallet you will be taken to the default landing page. From here, you can open the four menu items – Markets, Swap, Browser and Settings. You can also swipe left or right to access some of the other great features we list out below and that we really like about Coin98 mobile wallet:

  • User interface – the best User Interface we’ve experienced in any crypto mobile wallet app.
  • Set up – you can chose the currency you want to operate in and from 12 languages
  • Exchange connect – You can connect to 9 different cryptocurrency exchanges directly from the wallet, including many of the popular ones such as Binance, Kucoin, and FTX.
  • Native dApps – there is an inbuilt dApp browser in the App which is where you’ll make money with Coin98 wallet. We go into some of the best offers we’ve found using the Native dApps below.
  • Cross Chain bridge – you can convert tokens between 4 blockchains – Ethereum, BSC, Tron, Solana – directly in the wallet. Anyone that uses DeFi knows how valuable this is.
  • Cross chain staking, swaps, earning and yield farming – this is the biggest and best feature of Coin98 and what sets it apart from other fully featured mobile wallet apps. We’ll go into this in more detail below to explain what you get when you download and set up the Coin98 mobile wallet.
Connect directly to some of the biggest exchanges in crypto

The cross chain features that set Coin98 wallet apart

22 Blockchains supported

Coin 98 wallet supports 22 Blockchains as we write this post. That’s more than any other mobile wallet app we’ve come across. Here are the long list of Chains supported within the one wallet:

  1. Supported chains
  2. Bitcoin
  3. Ethereum
  4. Binance Smart Chain
  5. Solana
  6. HECO chain
  7. Near
  8. Avalanche C Chain & Avalanche X Chain
  9. Tron
  10. Polygon
  11. Fantom
  12. Polkadot
  13. Kusama
  14. Cosmos
  15. THORChain
  16. Terra
  17. BandChain
  18. Kava
  19. Persistance
  20. Binance Chain
  21. TomoChain
  22. Celo

This is such a great feature when it comes to trying to get the best returns from your crypto assets. You can easily switch between DeFi protocols with the best APY and APR rates. The wallet makes it easy to be an active crypto investor with very little experience.

Tips on using the cross chain functions

Before you start accessing DeFi protocols and transacting your coins you will need to activate your wallet/s. This is where the real convenience and simplicity of Coin98 mobile wallet app shines. You can create a single multi-chain wallet to store assets for all supported blockchains. The great thing is the wallet and all its assets can be accessed with a single passphrase. This saves you tonnes of time each time you want to transaction on different Chains, but it also means you have to keep the multi chain wallet password extremely secure.

The benefits of Coin 98’s multi-chain wallet features compared to Single chain wallets

If you don’t want to use the multichain wallet convenience, you can set up a wallet for each chain you want to use, for example – an Ethereum wallet, a Binance Smart Chain wallet etc. This means taking a note of your passphrase and private key for each wallet. Once you have set up a wallet for each Chain you want to transact on, you can skip seamlessly between Defi Protocols and the wallet will automatically swap to the right Chain for that Protocol.

This may seem like a small thing, but to new DeFi users, it takes away the fear of losing your coins because you’ve selected the wrong Blockchain Network for your transaction. This is priceless.

We love this feature because it helps to bring non tech savvy users to crypto.

How to make money with Coin98 mobile wallet

The best thing about the Coin98 mobile wallet is that it has an inbuilt dApp browser. Now this is an inbuilt browser the likes of which we haven’t seen in other mobile wallets because of its cross chain functionality. You can choose to view and use dApps on different networks with the click of a button, making it super easy to transact in the DeFi world

The dApp Browser is also how you make money staking and farming with with Coin98 wallet all from the one place.

Native dApps across multiple chains is why you want to download and start using Coin 98 mobile wallet

dAPP coverage

Coin 98 wallet has native integrations with many of the larger DeFi protocols – SushiSwap, UniSwap, PancakeSwap, Aave, Compound, Yearn Finance. This means you can stake, farm, lend, borrow, earn – all from the one wallet. There are also native Gaming dApps like CyrptoKitties and GodsUnchained.

We did notice that of the dApps supported by Coin 98 wallet most built on Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain. There’s very few yet that are built on Polygon. We think this is one area that the Coin98 team could expand. Polygon is a popular network because of the low fees and bridging capabilities with Ethereum. It would be great to see integration with some Polygon dApps. If you’re a Polygon user, then at present we’d recommend sticking to your current wallet. we have heard that QuickSwap on Polygon and JulSwap on Tron will soon be integrated following the Coin98 Wallet version X. Good news.

Best money making opportunities with Coin98 wallet

Here are three of the best opportunities for high returns that we found at the time of writing, using the Coin98 mobile wallet dApp integrations:

  1. Staking – earn 77% APY by staking CAKE on PancakeSwap and get paid in C98
  2. Earning – up to 23% APY lending stablecoins like USDT, DAI and USDC on DeFi Yield Protocol.
  3. Lending – 15.15% APR lending USDC and Chainlink on SushSwap.

Another cool feature is the native dApp Zapper, which lets you see your entire net worth staked across multiple different Chain-native DeFi protocols, all in the one screen.

Will the dApp Browser last?

The dApp Browser looks a lot like the in built Browser from the Trust Wallet, which we have reviewed here. You’ll see in our Trust Wallet review there is a 9 June 2021 update reporting that the App Store had required the removal of the dApp Browser in Trust Wallet. Android users were unaffected by this. We covered the issue in detail in this article.

The question is, if the App Store required the removal of integrated dApp browser in Trust Wallet, how long will it be until Apple users face the same with Coin98 Wallet? It will be a real shame if this happens as the cross chain capability plus dApp browser integration make Coin98 mobile wallet stand out amongst it’s peers and we’ve loved what we have seen so far from the Coin98 Finance team.

The verdict

A great new mobile wallet with loads of in-built convenience. The wallet solves the problem of complexity for new crypto users by automatically and seamlessly switching between chains and by offering up the very convenient multi-chain wallet. It also provides new functionality for seasoned crypto investors through the in-wallet bridge. Provided the browser is here to stay we will write a full review of Coin98 mobile wallet app in coming months. We hope it sticks around and cements a place at the top of the crypto wallet field.

What makes cryptocurrency prices rise and fall?

Crypto KP How to do crypto , ,
what causes cryptocurrency prices to rise and fall

If you’re crypto curious and looking to better understand how cryptocurrency works before you put your hard earned money in, then this post is for you. Crypto is the wild wild west of investing. While cryptocurrencies are traded like stocks in the stock market, the crypto market is nothing like the Dow Jones, Nasdaq or S&P 500. Crypto is unique, with prices driven by factors that don’t exist in other money markets. If you want to make money with crypto it’s critical you know what makes cryptocurrency prices rise and fall.

Cryptocurrency markets

Cryptocurrency is traded between parties in markets. The demand and supply of a particular cryptocurrency in a specific market will set a baseline for its price action, whether that be upwards or downwards. But did you know that unlike stocks, there are both centralised (CEX) and decentralised (DEX) crypto trading markets? It’s important to know this because the price is determined differently in each type of exchange.

How is the price of crypto set on centralised exchanges?

On centralised crypto exchanges, the price of a crypto asset is determined between two parties using the traditional order book model that conventional exchanges like the S&P 500 or ASX use. Order books are just a record of all open buy and sell orders for a particular crypto. The spread between buy and sell prices determines the depth of the order book and the current market price.

In this model, the CEX acts as an intermediary to clear trading transactions and provides custody services for your crypto assets.Trades occur on the CEXs server rather than directly on the blockchain.

The leading centralised exchange by volume is Binance. It’s also the one we recommend you get started on as covers more small cap coins than its rival Coinbase. Binance has a hot mobile wallet with all the bells and whistles you could wish for – check it out here.

If you’re in the US and you want to set up on Binance you’ll need to use BolsaDX which is a Binance brand that operates in Latin America and can be used by folks in the US. Binance is not available in the US.

How is the price of crypto set on decentralised exchanges?

Peer-to-peer trading occurs on DEXs through automated smart contracts (programs) that execute trades without an intermediary. DEXs use liquidity pool protocols to determine crypto pricing. These exchanges execute trades or ‘swaps’ between users directly and instantly from wallet to wallet. There is no intermediary like in a CEX.

Swaps are made in one of two ways: through an order book that interacts with the blockchain, or through an automated market maker (AMM) approach. Since we already know what order books are, lets talk about AMMs. AMMs remove the need for counter-parties to set the price. Instead, AMMs us algorithms to set the price, which means that you can trade a particular coin or token regardless of whether there’s someone on the other end of the trade. To facilitate this, “liquidity pools,” are needed. These pools pay users to keep some of their funds in a smart contract that can then be drawn on for trades to occur.

With AMMs there are no prior orders in an order book. There are only takers (buyers) looking to exchange a specific cryptocurrency pair.

DEXs are non-custodial, which means you are responsible for managing the safety of your crypto. You keep your crypto secure whilst trading on DEXs by using a hardware wallet and seed phrase recovery wallet. You can find the best hardware wallets to keep your crypto safe right here and the best metal seed phrase storage wallet for your private keys here.

UniSwap and SushiSwap are the two biggest DEXs in crypto at present.

Both CEX and DEX rely on the demand of buyers and the supply from sellers (or liquidity providers) to set the price of a trade or swap. So if crypto prices are determined by demand and supply in these markets, let’s look at the factors that influence the commitment of those buyers (demand) and of sellers or liquidity providers (supply) themselves.

11 market movers that cause cryptocurrency prices to rise and fall

What drives people to buy and sell their assets in different markets is a complex discussion. People can be influenced by the market sentiment, news, their own personal circumstances, market analytics, trading signals, etc etc. So lets look with more granularity at 11 factors that can move the crypto market and cause cryptocurrency prices to rise and fall.

  1. Bitcoin
  2. Whale manipulation
  3. Trading patterns
  4. Trading bots
  5. The news that moves the market
  6. Airdrops
  7. Coin burns
  8. Pump and dump groups
  9. Major exchange coin listings
  10. Rebranding
  11. Project partnership announcements

1.Bitcoin

Bitcoin is the king of crypto and its price action in both directions moves the rest of the market. If you want to know more about when Bitcoin moves the price of other coins up or down, have a read of this great article on the crypto market fundamentals you need to know before investing.

2. Whale manipulation

Whales are crypto holders with very large bags of a particular coin. You can get Bitcoin whales, Ethereum whales etc. Whales can use their coin share to move the market with large buy or sell orders. Whales can do this in conjunction with options trades, to make profits. It is particularly easy in small cap coins as it doesn’t take much trading volume to spike or drop the price. One example of price manipulation might be if there is a lot of trading volume on a particular coin but the price is going sideways or downhill. It may be that whales are waiting in the water as the price sinks and weak hands hit the sell button.

3. Trading patterns

Crypto traders trade assets according to the same trading rules and patterns. They all use the same indicators. This makes the patterns they use to signal buy and sell trades self fulfilling. Everyone sees the signal and makes the trade. Trading patterns constantly influence whether the price will move up or down, depending on the volume of trades and traders.

4. Trading bots

This one is linked to trading patterns. Programs are now available so that traders can execute trades using bots (or automation) and based on conventional trading patterns and rules. For example, it’s common for trading bots to be set up to buy up a certain cryptocurrency when the price retraces to .618 of its previous high. This is based on the Fibonacci retracement rule and its application to market trading. Sometimes its possible to actually see trading bots provide price support at this level in trading charts and order books on centralised exchanges.

5. The news that moves the market

Crypto markets are very news sensitive. Project news and development milestones can and routinely do cause particular coins to pump or dump. Hardfork, testnet and mainnet release announcements will generally move the price significantly. In many cases the price of a coin will run up before the project testnet or mainnet date, and sell off just before the testnet or mainnet release.

Similarly, the price of a coin will tumble if a published milestone is missed or the project is hacked, experiences a development failure or is exploited in any way.

Coin Market Calendar is a great site to see if there is any upcoming project news for a particular coin or token.

6. Airdrops

Airdrops are a promotional event in crypto to raise awareness of a particular project or coin. They usually involve the project group sending free coins to the wallets of existing coin holders. So it’s basically a free money giveaway to reward project faithfuls. When it happens, the price of a particular coin can go thermal nuclear.

7. Coin burns

A coin burn is a process of intentionally destroying or ‘burning’ coins to make them unusable and reduce the total market supply of that particular coin and increase the value. It’s the crypto market version of a stock buyback in conventional markets. Coin burns are used to stabilise the value of a coin and they are often scheduled ahead as an incentive for buyers to hold the particular coin (and benefit from price rises when coin burn occurs).

8. Pump and dump groups

Pump and dump schemes are not specific to crypto but they are pretty common price manipulation attempts. Pump and dumps are a scam so beware. They go something like this. A group of investors (organisers) – usually on Telegram or other social platforms like Discord, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Facebook – collude to buy a low cap coin slowly over time so as not to raise its price. The same group then pays an inner circle to promote the bejeezus out of the coin, convincing other investors it’s going to the moon. When those investors (the outer rim) jump in, the organisers sell causing the price to dump immediately. It’s the quick or the dead, the organises versus the bagholders.

9. Major exchange coin listings

This is a well know strategy for some traders – to buy smaller coins and tokens on DEXs or unknown, low volume exchanges and wait and hope that the coins are listed on large exchanges like Binance, Coinbase or Kucoin where most of the trading volume is. Because of the larger volume on these exchanges, newly listed coins can pump hard at the time of listing. This is when existing holders will sell, often causing the coins to dump again straight after. It’s a risky strategy but can be high reward if you know what you’re doing.

10. Rebranding

Rebranding can cause the price of a cryptocurrency to rise if there is significant social media to raise awareness of the event. Rebranding is seen as a move to popularise a particular project and cryptocurrency, driving demand for its coins and tokens and pushing the price up.

10. Project partnership announcements

When small crypto projects announce partnerships with established mainstream brands, the price will often pump. For example when Steller Lumens announced a partnership with IBM, boom the price when through the roof. The fastest way to find out about these announcements is by following the project on Twitter or on a site called cryptopanic. If you find out early enough you may be able to pick up some coins before the price pump and make a decent profit.

BlockFI told to cease and desist – three US Regulators now targeting popular crypto wallet app

Crypto KP Crypto wallet news , ,
crypto wallet app

If you are holding any of your crypto assets in a lending and borrowing crypto wallet app like Celsius, Nexo, or BlockFi, you may have heard the news in recent days. Three US state securities regulators have filed ‘cease and desist’ or ‘show cause’ notices against a popular crypto wallet app.

If you’re using or thinking about using these types of apps, should you be worried?

Let’s take a look at what has happened with state securities regulators and what it means for your crypto.

Who are US State regulators targeting now?

In one word – BlockFi.

Three US states – New Jersey, Texas and Alabama – have filed cease and desist orders, or at least provided notice of their filing, in the last week. All filings have been against BlockFi.

You can take a look at the latest action by the Texas State Securities Bureau here.

The main gripe of regulators is their concern that BlockFi’s Interest Account (BIA) product is a security under state rules but is not registered as such.

If the filings are successful BlockFi will be banned from offering interest bearing crypto accounts in each of those states until their interest account is properly registered. That in turn raises the question of how likely it is that BlockFi would meet the requirements of securities registration. Would they be approved?

The allegations will need to be heard by a judge in coming weeks.

BlockFi’s official response to the fillings has been to asset the legality of their interest accounts in those states:

BlockFi’s response to recent US state regulator allegations

What is BlockFi?

BlockFi is a lending and borrowing platform for cryptocurrency assets. It offers one of the most popular interest accounts for cryptocurrency assets. BlockFi pools the assets that customers lend to it and pays interest on those assets. It generates interest by lending those assets on to trusted institutional and corporate borrowers.

BlockFi’s interest account (the product under scrutiny) is their flagship offering. They also provide customers with a trading account product and crypto-backed loans.

How does this impact BlockFi crypto wallet app customers?

State regulators have expressed that these regulatory actions are meant to protect retail investors, although in reality they are likely to be causing some concern. The Texas regulator has said BlockFi has at 25,000 clients in Texas with $691 million in total assets. That’s no small deal and it’s just one of the states in question.

If they are successful, the filings will only directly impact new BlockFi customers who are residents of Alabama, Texas and New Jersey. In fact, BlockFi has already been required to stop taking new customers for this product in these states until the matter is resolved.

That said, if the filings are successful they may set precedents for other states. At a minimum we can expect other state securities regulators to take a closer look at BlockFi.

What is the impact on other crypto wallets like Celsius and Nexo?

We’re sure the Celsius and Nexo teams will be watching with keen interest what is going on. But there’s no need to panic. These platforms should have their lawyers advising on any implications and will have a head start on BlockFi in terms of formulating a response and getting a head start on preparing for registration applications. That’s assuming registration is required. In short, there’s still a long way to go before state regulators move on to other platforms.

Should you be withdrawing your crypto from BlockFi?

If you’re a resident of one of these three states it might be safest to withdraw your assets and wait it out until the judge has ruled. If you’re worried out losing out on interest earnings then take a look at our review of Celsius Wallet here. Celsius is a competitor to BlockFi and offers the same sorts of products and interest rates.

If you’re not a resident of Texas, Alabama or New Jersey you should keep an eye on how these cases play out. Pay attention to whether other state regulators make similar moves in a domino effect. If this begins to happen, perhaps consider getting your crypto out.

If you’re not a resident of the US, then you’re not impacted so there’s no need to worry.

What can you do to manage regulatory risk to your crypto assets?

Regulatory risk is material in crypto because its such a new asset class and operates differently to any other financial products in the market. Law makers are still trying to classify different crypto product offerings. Until they do, we can’t really expect crypto platforms to comply with laws that may or may not apply to their products.

So how should you protect yourself?

Diversify your assets across crypto wallet apps. If you want to earn interest on your crypto don’t put all your eggs in one basket (or one crypto wallet app!). There are three or four large providers in this space all offering similar interest rates on Stablecoins and major cryptocurrency. We’ve listed these below. Our recommendation if you are worried about regulatory risk would be to split your assets across them. This can also help protect your coins from cyber attack and hackers attacking your wallet.

  • Celsius (get $40BTC free if you sign up with our link or referral code 1910143eb7)
  • Nexo
  • Orion

Hopefully, as regulators take an interest in this space and laws begin to be applied, existing customers will be grandfathered and providers will remain committed to their customer’s assets.

But in crypto its always best to protect your assets yourself.

Fake Trust Wallet mobile app out to get your crypto

Crypto KP Common crypto scams, Fake crypto apps , ,
Fake Trust Wallet

Crypto enthusiasts and crypto wallet app users should be aware of the insidious scammers planting fake Trust Wallet apps on app stores and links to them, to scam you of your coins. And this is not the only nefarious means that scammers will try to trick you out of your crypto coins bags. If you’re a Trust Wallet user, or thinking about it, make sure you read on to find out what other Trust Wallet scams are out there and how to stay safe in the wild wild west of crypto.

Trust Wallet is a popular target for scammers as its one of the most popular and versatile apps available to transact your crypto and make money with DeFI. If you want to know more about Trust Wallet, you can check out our full review of what it is and how you can use it to make passive income with DeFi – here.

Our Decryptify blog is all about helping you keep your crypto safe so here is a snapshot of what to watch out for.

Fake Trust Wallet reports online

Fake Trust Wallet apps have been reported on the Trust Wallet community and on Reddit in both 2020 and 2021. Multiple times. While they’re eventually taken down, they keep popping up because they’re obviously successful at scamming new people each time. The thing with a crypto wallet app is you need to set up a seed recovery phase (private keys to your crypto) when you create the wallet. This is the mechanism scammers use to grab your coins once you send them to your wallet. The app records your phrase as you input it and the scammers then use it steal your coins.

Here is what the fake Trust Wallet app looked like. Notice, the name of the developer is the first giveaway.

FAKE app by Trust Wallet LLC

This is what the REAL Trust Wallet app looks like:

Real App by DApps Platform Inc

Fake Trust Rewards offers

Scammers have also propagated fake Trust rewards offers like the ones pictured below. You’re enticed in by offers of an Airdrop or other incentive payments and the MO is to get you to click their links. You can spot a scam like this straight away because you are then asked to input your private keys to get access to the rewards. Legitimate projects and developers in crypto will NEVER have a reason to ask you for your private keys, so don’t be tempted by the promise of big rewards or free crypto.

Fake Trust Facebook accounts

Readers should also be aware of Fake Trust Wallet accounts popping up in Facebook and on Telegram. Straight from the trusted team at Trust Wallet, here are some tips on how to spot a fake FB account:

The MO of the scammers setting up these accounts is similar to the above – they use the promise of incentives if you follow their links and provide your private key details to claim the rewards. Once they have your keys, any crypto you had associated with that address is gone. If you are new to crypto, rewards schemes, Airdrops and competitions are common in the crypto community. However its up to you to identify what is legit and what is not.

How to keep you crypto safe

  1. Only ever download the app from the Official Trust Wallet site. This goes for any crypto wallet app you want to down load. Do not search on the name of the app in Apple Store or Google Play if you want to keep your coins!

2. Make sure you know the name of the developer so you can double check this when the app store link opens up.

3. Don’t rely on the number of reviews in the apps store – this feature is easy to replicate with bots. READ THE REVIEWS IN THE APP STORE! If folks are on the site saying the app is a scam, look into it!

4. Get on to the Trust Wallet Community or Google “Fake Trust Wallet App Reddit’ and read through some posts.

5. Only participate in rewards or incentive programs with legitimate exchanges and projects. Only every access these directly from within the project’s official site. Don’t click links from other sites or accounts to participate in reward schemes, airdrops or competitions.

6. And the most important way to keep your crypto safe – NEVER GIVE YOUR PRIVATE KEYS OUT TO ANYONE! If anyone every asks for your private keys that is a sure sign you’re about to be scammed.

Stay SAFU in crypto!

Fake crypto wallets scam – 4 tips to safe-keep you crypto fortune

Crypto KP Fake crypto apps, Phishing scams , ,
fake crypto wallet apps

It’s commonplace now to regularly visit Google Play or the Apple Apps store and download new apps for some use or another. There’s an app for everything after all. This is also true for the cryptoverse, where cryptocurrency apps or dApps have flourished in number over the past year as the bull market has started its run. So many it’s hard to keep up with what’s going on. The sheer speed of development in the crypto app space also makes it a prime target for scammers who continue to exploit the trust that mobile phone users place in ubiquitous app marketplaces like Apple’s App Store and Google Play. Here’s what to watch out for and our tips scam wallets.

Fake Trezor App

The fake Trezor app story came to light when it hit the news that one unfortunately guy had lost 17.1 Bitcoin when he went to the Apple Store and downloaded what he thought to be the app for the popular Trezor Hardware Wallet. The app was a fake set up to perpetrate a phishing attack. Phishing is well known in the world of email where internet users are well-schooled in not clicking on links in emails that are unsolicited or come from a foreign source. The 21st century version of mama telling you never to speak to strangers.

In the world of crypto, apps are a common medium of phishing attacks designed to get the user to input their private keys and seed phrase that used to secure access to coins on the blockchain.

In this case, as soon as the unsuspecting Trezor hard wallet user entered his private keys to set up the fake Trezor wallet app, his Bitcoin was gone forever. Apparently, criminal app developer is now a job title. The fake app displayed hundreds of 5 star ratings which added to its appearance of legitimacy and even linked to the actual Trezor website.

It’s reported that as many as 8 fake Trezor apps have appeared on the Google Play store from time to time.

fake cypto apps
SafePal tweets about fake SFP app

Fake SafePal App

Fake app scams seem to keep popping up like pimples on the proverbial crypto butt. Probably because they’re pretty successful at duping crypto users out of their precious coins. Earlier this year SafePal, a crypto wallet developer, was warning customers on twitter of a fake SafePal wallet app on Google Play. There was no way of distinguishing from the icon alone which was the fake and which was the genuine SafePal app.

If these types of scams are commonplace, the question becomes one of whether app marketplaces are as closely curated and scrutinised as companies like Apple and Google might claim. Especially when some of the icons look suspiciously similar to the real deal? Apparently, the apps are put forward and pass through app market place review processes and then are morphed by developers into fake crypto wallets that impersonate real brands.

Electrum wallet phishing attack

In 2018 a hacker famously targeted Electrum wallet in a cleverly designed phishing attack. The story goest that the hacker created and sent to all Electrum Wallet users a fake message prompting them to perform a security upgrade for the app. The message was disguised with a GitHub site URL, which made it all appear legitimate. The real purpose of the upgrade was to install a client that collected the user’s private keys so the hacker could steal their crypto. The hacker reportedly stole 243 BTC, which in 2018 was worth around $1M but in today’s dollars is more like $8.5M.

These are just some of the many examples of fake crypto wallets that keep popping up in app market places. This reddit forum, organised to get the word out about crypto wallet app scams, reports fake Exodus wallets, Cardano wallets and Trust Wallets, so user beware.

How to avoid being scammed by fake crypto wallet apps

With app market places unlikely to take on more responsibility for policing the growing number of fake crypto apps in their stores, the onus is on you to protect yourself from crypto app phishing attacks. Here are some things you should do before downloading ANY crypto app from Apple’s App Store or Google Play:

  1. google the name of the app with the words ‘scam’, ‘phishing,’ ‘fake’ or ‘hack after it. See what people are saying. Get onto reddit and do the same thing.
  2. don’t search for the app in the app store. Go to the developers website and click through to the app from there. Pay attention to the developer’s website address!
  3. don’t trust the 5 star review ratings in the app store. Bots can be used to manufacture fake 5 star reviews. Click on the reviews and see what they say.
  4. check the app developer – does this align with the developer’s website? Google the developer’s name. Cross check it.

There are some other simple strategies that you can use to protect against total loss if you are the unfortunate victim of a crypto scam. Avoid putting all of your coins in one wallet and keeping your crypto fortune on a hardware wallet air gapped from the internet are two of these strategies.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t put that crypto to work – Exodus wallet and Trezor have a new partnership that allows users of the Exodus mobile crypto wallet to securely stake coins from cold storage. We expect these types of offerings to increase as the cryptoverse fights back against damaging scams and hacks that cost the crypto community millions and can turn the victims off crypto for a lifetime.

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