The developer of MetaMask— ConsenSys, has acquired the Wallet Guard cryptocurrency protection application. The deal will help strengthen the security of a non-custodial wallet.
🔊We proudly announce the acquisition of @wallet_guard by Consensys!
This new addition to our family strengthens @MetaMask's commitment to user protection, building on recent security feature integrations to safeguard against hacks and scams.https://t.co/V5PnvuxZMf
The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The integration of Wallet Guard will improve the detection of drainers through transaction verification and client-side heuristics, providing users with real-time protection against malicious dapps and fraud.
In February, the MetaMask team partnered with Blockaid to make security notifications available by default on various networks, including Ethereum, Linea, BNB Chain, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism and Avalanche.
The function is designed to proactively prevent malicious transactions and protect users from scams, phishing and hacker attacks.
The developers have suggested that in 2024, notifications will prevent the theft of assets "worth hundreds of millions of dollars."
"[The integration of] Wallet Guard [...] is strategically consistent with ConsenSys' goal of putting user safety first," said Joseph Lubin, CEO of the organization and co—founder of Ethereum.
The company recalled the Chainalysis report, which claims that over $1.7 billion worth of digital assets were stolen through fraud in 2023. In 2022 and 2021, the figures amounted to $3.7 billion and $3 billion, respectively.
In the second quarter of 2024, SlowMist's MistTrack service received 467 reports of cryptocurrency thefts. The funds of 18 victims in the amount of $22.66 million were frozen. Experts have identified private key leaks, phishing and fraud among the most common methods.
Recall that in June, the developers of the non-custodial wallet introduced the "collective" Ethereum staking function. The service lowers the entry threshold of 32 ETH (~$113,000) for ordinary users.
Prior to that, MetaMask added "smart transactions" to protect against MEV bots.
https://forklog.com/cryptorium/chto-takoe-metamask