Dear Future Whales,
This week’s note has a few reminders designed to keep you and your web3 wallets safe, including why you should be listening to the “NFT Daily Dose” with Ryan Carson. We are getting ready to launch our VanEck Virtual Experience and I discuss how community members can participate in the beta version. Let’s dive in.
Summary of today's notes:
Web3 Security Discussion - 4 Best Practices!
Featured Pod - 5 Most Common Scams & How to Avoid Them!
Featured Projects: Cryptoys
Wanted: Beta Testers for the VanEck Virtual Experience
Web3 Security:
This past Wednesday night, one of the most influential voices and project founders in mobile gaming lost access to his Twitter account and much more. I won’t name him, but his activities and efforts are responsible for onboarding thousands of users to web3.
I know that many of my readers consider themselves experts, but even the best of us may become susceptible to FOMO, clicking links that we shouldn’t, and even failing to put basic security practices in place. As a PSA, consider these reminders. I’d like to thank @RyanCarson for his NFT Daily Dose episodes on Twitter each day at 10:30am ET where some of the practices discussed below were shared.
Best Practices:
Set up Two-Factor Authentication everywhere you need to, for both wallets and social accounts; BUT do not use SMS! In the scenario mentioned above, the victim was “Sim-Swapped” so the scammer was able to receive the text verification code. Instead, use a tool like Google Authenticator or a physical device such as Yubico.
Don’t rush to connect your wallets to dApps because you think everyone else is or to claim an exclusive, last-minute airdrop or whitelist opportunity.
You will likely forget about rule #2 at some point so have a “Degen” wallet set up in advance for when you eventually FOMO into something speculative.
Ryan Carson recommends Cryptosteel for backing up your seed phrase and so do I. I’ve also used Ledger’s Billfodl for securing your seed phrase. Both work!
Featured Podcast: 5 Most Common Scams in Web3 & How to Avoid Them
The team at Web3 Academy continues to put out great content! Sticking with today’s theme about wallet security, I highly recommend listening to this podcast on how to avoid the top 5 scams. Below are the times to jump into:
7:16 - Web3 Scam #1: Fake verified accounts
8:58 - Web3 Scam #2: Rug pulls
12:36 - Web3 Scam #3: Ponzi schemes
15:29 - Web3 Scam #4: Phishing scams
19:45 - Web3 Scam #5: Fake websites
Featured Projects: Cryptoys
I also learned about this from listening to the NFT Daily Dose. Apparently, Ryan is an advisor for the project. Cryptoys has a major nostalgia factor and is being marketed as a new breed of NFT collectibles.
I’m now 40 years old, so as a kid my go-to cartoons were Thundercats and He-Man. The Cryptoys team is planning to bring back the Masters of the Universe through one of their early NFT collectibles. Check out the video here! These characters will be collectible, rare and even playable in ways that are soon to be discovered. I recommend signing up to learn more. This collection launches on November 9th.
VanEck’s Virtual World - Beta Testing is Underway
As Head of VanEck’s NFT community, I’ve spent the last few months working to bring our digital playground and communication tool to life. Our VanEck metaverse-like experience is built using the Portals NFT and built on top of the Solana Blockchain.
We hope to officially launch this at the end of the month, but we are also inviting community members and other groups to visit and participate in the beta launch. If you would like an opportunity to become a beta Tester, then send a note to NFT@vaneck.com. You can earn POAPs and gain some valuable practice for when we host a scavenger hunt for a Legendary NFT during the official event.
Authored by Matt Bartlett, CAIA. Follow Matt on Twitter @MattBartlettVE.
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