Back in the day, before cryptocurrency was worth anything, an email address and a password was all you needed to login to an exchange. Then start requiring 2FA (two-factor authentication), using email authentication or Google Authenticator. Then ushered in the third generation of user authentication, this time things are beginning to become more and more strange.
From the completion of puzzles to gestures
As attackers become more sophisticated, cryptocurrency exchanges have to take measures to ensure safety. These measures need to achieve a series of goals, including preventing spam attacks, preventing robots from manipulating accounts, and strengthening due diligence in accordance with the law.
Binance with its “Fit the puzzle piece carefully” which has spawned numerous memes, and kept its customer support busy attending to users who can’t fit the puzzle. At the same time, Kucoin began asking customers a few strange questions a few weeks ago. Then the user repeatedly asked these questions each time he logged in, leaving users troubled.
Bittrex requires that you click the email link and log in twice, because the user IP cannot be identified, even if the user logs in with a common device in a common location. The strange verification at the time of large exchange registration has been assimilated by the cryptocurrency culture. Although users may complain, considering that this is to safeguard their own interests, they still accept these rules. However, Gate.io’s latest verification program allows traders to discuss:
Prove you are human
It is impractical to complete Gate.io’s KYC in public, but perhaps this is exactly what it means: Let users find that they can only log in at home, thereby improving the security of the operation. As part of the verification procedure, the user needs to make four of the nine actions on the map in front of the webcam. From a safety point of view, this is undoubtedly effective: At present, robots cannot make human gestures, and they also make gang gestures.
In any other industry, the public will not tolerate such strange security measures. But cryptocurrencies are different. Enduring unconventional procedures is the price that the trader must pay on the exchange. Traders can complain, but they want to withdraw money and have no choice but to comply.
Marko Vidrih
Images courtesy of Pixabay, Binance, Gate.io, and Kucoin