Security is essential in crypto — here are some of our best practices to avoid getting scammed!
CoinMarketCap strives to continue to innovate, which means you will occasionally see new beta-features pop up here and there.
Sadly, innovation also invites exploitation. We want to give our users all of the information possible to make the best-informed decisions about how they interact with the crypto space — so we wanted to give you some tips about how to avoid bad players.
Best Crypto Security Practices
There is no such thing as free money. Repeat after me — there is no such thing as free money.
While in the crypto space, there are definitely ways to earn crypto by doing tasks — like our airdrop campaigns — you should never, ever send someone your funds in exchange for more funds in the future. CoinMarketCap and legitimate projects will never ask you for money, your private keys, or any personal information.
Example of a scam giveaway tweet or post: Our team is giving away 5 ETH to the first 100 people who send us .5 ETH!
Example of a legitimate giveaway tweet or post: Our team is giving away 5 ETH to the first 100 people who retweet, like, and comment on our post!
As a crypto player, you need to learn to recognize the difference — one SCAM post asks you to send them your own money, the other REAL post asks you to perform some tasks for a chance to win money.
What other ways can you protect yourself and your crypto? Research!
It’s very important that you know as much as you can about any project that you are interested in from the crypto space. Here’s a small checklist of things you can do when you find a new project.
- Read the white paper — what is this project promising? What are the goals of the token or coin?
- Understand the tokenomics — will there be a lock-up period for tokens? Does the founding team get an allocation, and are there incentives for them to not sell and dump the market price?
- Check the socials — do they have a real community following? Are their Twitter followers paid bots or real people?
- Learn about the founders — are the founders anonymous? Have they worked on successful projects in the past?
- Find liquidity — if the token is already trading, what exchange is it on? Are there market pairs for the currencies you want? Is there enough volume to ensure buyers and sellers?
And last but not least, we will touch on phishing scams.
Legitimate projects will never ask for your personal information — so if you get an email or a Telegram claiming to be from CoinMarketCap, Binance, etc. asking for your private keys, password or other personal information…this is a scam!
Scammers are getting really, really good at making their messages look official and real. It’s up to you to be attentive and remember that a real project will not need your private keys in order to do ANYTHING. They are called private keys for a reason — they are for your eyes only!
With all that being said, we’ve included a list of our official CoinMarketCap URLs — make sure that you use only these links to get information about CoinMarketCap.
Stay vigilant!
Official CoinMarketCap URL Links
Here is a list of CoinMarketCap’s official channels. If you find a social channel not on this list, that channel is most likely a scam.
IMPORTANT: The channels below are NOT customer service windows for exchanges or protocols aiming to get listed on CoinMarketCap! Please follow the proper procedures via our methodology and request form. Please be careful with your funds!
This article contains links to third-party websites or other content for information purposes only (“Third-Party Sites”). The Third-Party Sites are not under the control of CoinMarketCap, and CoinMarketCap is not responsible for the content of any Third-Party Site, including without limitation any link contained in a Third-Party Site, or any changes or updates to a Third-Party Site. CoinMarketCap is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by CoinMarketCap of the site or any association with its operators. This article is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. It is important to do your own research and analysis before making any material decisions related to any of the products or services described. This article is not intended as, and shall not be construed as, financial advice. The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s [company’s] own and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinMarketCap. CoinMarketCap is not responsible for the success or authenticity of any project, we aim to act as a neutral informational resource for end-users.
