2 ways to spot a blockchain scam | Kyle Thornton | TEDxPortland

Kyle Thornton is a software engineer and leader in crypto security. While the birth of the Internet brought us digital connectedness, the blockchain now brings us digital ownership and, along with it, all new security concerns. As the blockchain use grows, so does the rate of scams. Luckily Kyle has simplified how you can stay safe in this new digital world.
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With special thanks to the University of Oregon for presenting partnership, a world class stage design provided by Meyer Pro Inc, an incredible legacy bound Event Book provided by Premier Press and to the creative digital craft provided by Thesis. All of our Partners and event history can be found at TEDxPortland.com Kyle Thornton is a software engineer and tech enthusiast who has always had a knack for helping untangle technical complexity. In his career, he has worked on solar tech at Tesla, flying cars at Kitty Hawk, and most recently fallen deep into the crypto rabbit hole. Currently, Kyle heads up Ledger's Customer Success team in the USA, where he and his team of friendly blockchain enthusiasts spend every day helping newcomers stay safe in the world of Web3. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@brianbrino4310]

Absolutely excellent and so simple and well explained!👌👏👍✌️

[@aasciutti]

What about malware that you download on your PC? I have a friend that was scammed like that... someone invited him to me part of a game project, and he downloaded the game client, and lost everything. How does that work, and how to know if a project is a scam? I even denied job opportunities recently because it was something similar to what my friend fell for. I'll never know if it was legit or not.

[@rikachiu]

Host the game on a completely separate machine away from any personal information/data. Never download or install applications on production systems unless 100% verified on a test/sandbox system.

[@infinidominion]

It's weird to ask anyone about how legit Blockchain is and they can never say how

[@medala100]

There are no international standards to measure this yet.

[@ms9001]

it's way more legit than your bank.

[@oevers]

@@medala100Also not true. If you would use some of your time to watch a half hour video on how blockchain works, you would probably know why it is absolutely technically impossible to crack it.

[@dipstickjamming5532]

​@ms9001 except bank is insured if something goes wrong but blockchain is not. once it gone that's it, it's gone

[@infinidominion]

@@ms9001 see your not saying how tho, seems skullduggerous

[@JonnyDoey]

Block chain is a good idea but needs more safeguards. Maybe when personal AI comes out it can help guard seed phrases and stuff for us

[@MrLuba6a]

Bravo!!! Amazing and easy to understand!!!But how about cookies? many pages do not let you go further if you do not accept those damn cookies?

[@naturelady87]

Great advice and explanation!

[@Tazer_Silverscar]

I mean, the one way to actually protect yourself is to NOT GET INVOLVED IN THE BLOCKCHAIN. If we ever get to the point where I need a Seed Phrase to do anything that is actually important, screw that, I will leave the Internet. It is absolutely not worth it, and it never has been. The only people who benefit from this technology are Techbros and the already rich.

[@manola8195]

😅 it will come your way anyway 😉

[@Tazer_Silverscar]

@@manola8195 Oh? That doesn't mean I have to use it. The blockchain is not some be-all and end-all. It's not some miracle solution.

[@davidthornton877]

That is great information, amazing presentation!

[@LukaszAdams]

1) protect you set frase 24 or 12 words 2)

[@LukaszAdams]

Understand what you sing (accept cookies)

[@user-li1cr3dl1g]

Awesome job!

[@amol1709]

I just tried your speed phrase and got 2$ in arb eth 😂😂

[@emazur8394]

My 1 way to spot a blockchain scam is if someone wants me to pay money and the word "blockchain" is given as a compelling reason to pay. Maybe this guy is right about blockchain being a useful technology in one way or another. Transparently implementing it into the end product is one thing, advertising it as a feature is another. As it stands, the word "blockchain" is kryptonite to me. Maybe I'm wrong and I'll change my mind someday but I have my doubts

[@theyearwas1473]

Steps to know someone is scamming you with block chain. 1. Someone talks about block chain. 2. The words digital currency are used.

[@diemtuatinhthan98]

This is a very useful lesson for me

[@RahmanMojibur-pq9sw]

Nice

[@RussianVideoPodcast]

This is lame. What happens if you somehow lose your combination of 24 words. Say a tornado or a flood destroys your home and everything in it. Do you like need to keep a second copy in a bank's safe deposit box? This is not user friendly and a hassle. Unless there is s better way, this 24 word key is a lame idea. Nobody is going to bother with that nonsense. This sounds like something that is now well thought through.

[@medala100]

Its an option for people to have if they truly want to have ownership of an asset. People can have the option to give up custody and have it on centralized exchanges (i.e like banks). But then its technically not theirs. Just like fiat currency.

[@amol1709]

How's about Ukraine defeating Russian in war ?

[@Janiix89]

😅 yes it is lame but if you want to be your own bank then it’s necessary to store your private seed offline in multiple locations - if you don’t mind trusting people with your money like you already do there willl be options to do that but the most secure way is to store your own keys

[@ms9001]

​@@medala100exactly, naive people prefer owning assets controlled by the government than owning assets that they have full control over.

[@ms9001]

24 word key is just like any password. you encrypt it and upload it somewhere just like your bank password. you have control over the words while the bank has control over your password. your choice.

[@RahmanMojibur-pq9sw]

Amazing

[@medala100]

Blockchains that have native assets do not need to worry about signing/approving transactions, whereas chains whose tokens are smart contracts could have malicious code within them, aswell as bring prone to getting their wallets drained by approving tx.

[@ms9001]

not really. you still have to read what you are signing regardless of the type of chain. for native asset, you could be signing for a transaction with a wrong amount or wrong receiver address. for smart contracts, it's way more complicated but there are published source code of the contract so you can still see what is going on. just need some knowledge.

[@medala100]

@@ms9001 double checking everything should be common sense. Though it is not possible for a network that has native assets to have malicious code written into an an token that is being airdopped for example.

[@ms9001]

protect your seed phrase AND the private key. dont just give out your private key instead of your seed phrase. the approving dialog could also be fake. someone could lie about what it does. install a trust worthy wallet on your browser.

[@philippedacruz]

Thanks!

[@romanatorx3949]

At the moment, anything with the word "blockchain" is a scam...

[@cjplay2]

While I love the explanation, the decryption-blocking ability of it will be gone in

[@RedOneM]

Rule #3 is an extension of rule #1: sign transactions only on an offline ONLY machine, ledger does not count.

[@adrienadrien5940]

That just say why blockchain stuff are silly and a 100 time worst that we currently have ... Ah by the way, presentation say how you can loose everything at any moment by doing a simple everyday transaction but they don't give any useful usecase to the block chain...

[@Omkarmehrayt]

First 😂

[@kirankumarpatel5974]

Ik M😊😊😊😊😊ol

[@TestTest-eb8jr]

Well that was nearly 11 minutes of my life I'll never get back....

[@Karinamatters]

I'd rather trade the crypto market as its more profitable. I make an average of $15,000 per week even though I barely trade myself

[@ellamariz2375]

That's awesome!!! I would really love to know how much work you did put in to get to this stage

[@Karinamatters]

I engage in various prolific investments by compound interest & leveraging and as well operating with an investment professional Mrs Brisa Richardson, so far I've attained returns of over $30k last month

[@ellamariz2375]

Wow! Wow please is there any way to reach there services?

[@Karinamatters]

Her availability is constant on wats app

[@Karinamatters]

+44

[@shariecebrewster5962]

Yes I have a disability and know more

[@ronwhiteleo3352]

It’s from try I’m China it’s a scam