Users of the Phantom wallet software can now delete spam NFTs that have been delivered by con artists thanks to a new Burn Token feature.
Phantom, a wallet company with headquarters in Solana, has introduced a new burn feature that enables users to delete spam nonfungible tokens (NFTs) supplied by con artists.
The new function, which users can access through the Burn Token button in the Phantom wallet app, allows them to earn a tiny deposit of Solana (SOL) each time they utilize it, according to a blog post from the Phantom team published on Thursday:
“We’re still in the Wild West days of Web3. As the crypto ecosystem grows, so have the number of bad actors looking for ways to steal user’s funds. The rapid growth in popularity of NFTs has led to an increasingly prevalent method of attack for scammers – Spam NFTs.”
Due to Solana’s cheap transaction fees, Phantom stated that the problem has been particularly pervasive there, with bad actors frequently airdropping large numbers of purportedly free NFTs that really include harmful links.
Spam NFT typically asks the recipient to click a link in order to generate a free NFT. However, if they finish the procedure, their wallet is emptied of its contents. Alternatively, the link will request the recipient’s seed phrase, which will have the same effect.
“These scams are becoming increasingly more sophisticated. For instance, after a contract address and domain are identified as malicious, scammers can change the metadata of an NFT to try to avoid being blocklisted. It can feel like an endless game of whack-a-mole,” the blog post read.
The action is a part of a larger Phantom initiative to combat spam NFTs and undesirable actors in the market. By alerting users to “any fraudulent transactions that could endanger their assets or permissions” after clicking on dodgy links, the team claimed to be fighting scammers as well.
The statement also mentioned that Phantom and Blowfish are working together right now to enhance “how we warn users to phishing attacks.”
“While we’re introducing NFT Burning today, we’re not stopping there. Users can look forward to more automated spam detection in the future. Using providers like SimpleHash and our own internal reporting, we will be able to gauge if an NFT is likely to be spam,” the post read.
With more than 2 million monthly active users, Phantom is one of the most well-liked wallet providers for Solana-based NFTs and decentralized fiance (DeFi), according to the company.
Beginning in August, a rival wallet company called Slope experienced a security flaw that caused an estimated $8 million worth of assets to be lost on the Solana blockchain.
Austin Fedora, the head of communications at Solana, conducted a post-mortem investigation and discovered that, despite the attack being a Slope problem, 60% of the victims were Phantom users.
According to data from CryptoSlam, Solana hosted the second-largest NFT sales volume in July with $56.1 million, trailing only Ethereum, which recorded a staggering $535.6 million.
