Cryptocurrency-related scams have been recurrently increasing in the last few months. It was highlighted by the Washington Post in February that investors had lost $500 million on just one blockchain network, which had been targeted by scammers. Everyone is vulnerable, no matter how experienced a trader is - in this case, even the head of finance from Solana was scammed for $50 worth of USDC.

Despite the complexity of blockchain protocols, the procedures for making transactions still do not provide the necessary measures to make those transactions trustless. A screenshot of a Telegram conversation with Solana’s head of finance, Nivan Bhuta, revealed this when the scammer asked for 100 USDC before doing any transaction and the head of finance sent 50 USDC as a test.

US treasury recently defined cryptocurrency as a national security threat, pointing out the increasing scams as one of the main reasons. According to the report by Washington Post, these scams have already stolen over $10 billion from unsuspecting investors.

It is difficult to prevent these scams, as they often rely on impersonations of personalities from the industry. As the Twitter user Fatman said, "There is no such thing as someone “too smart to get scammed.” It can happen to anyone.”

Though it is true that the protocol’s procedures do not provide the necessary trust to make secure transactions, it is also important to understand that other external factors, such as a lack of business procedures, can influence the scammers’ successful attempts.

It is inevitable that investors, whether experienced or not, will continue to be vulnerable to crypto scams as long as these scams keep appearing and a trustless way of making transactions has yet to be implemented. Therefore, it is necessary to be aware and take extra precautions when trading.



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