FTX has just announced a new way to send crypto via email for payments or general transfers. When this news broke, I thought this was another step forward for mass adoption of crypto. While this tool is indeed useful, it can cause more harm than good. Many scams are perpetuated through emails known as phishing attacks. Let’s break down the good and the bad about this.

The FTX Good

Sending Crypto via email with would be a great step forward for payments and getting crypto mainstream. Users would have to register an account, then complete identity verification to receive their funds. By creating an account and validating your identity plus your email, it confirms the person receiving it is a real person. Now if there were to be a mistake such as sending it to the wrong email or if the verification cannot be completed, eventually, the funds return to the sender. So, this makes it an easier way to gift crypto to family members or start to incorporate them as payments.  See the excerpt below from FTX Support:

With all good, there can also be bad. This also can be a disaster for traders or investors.

The FTX Bad

When something can be sent via email for payments or movement of money, it can also be an easy way for hackers to get ahold of your accounts. Phishing is one of the leading causes of stolen personal information and finances. All someone has to do is send an email that looks mostly real and wait for the person to either send them their personal information or click the link in the email for the attackers to get the information. While sending crypto or crypto payments via email is nice and easy, it comes with a trove of potential problems. Another problem is that you send it to the wrong account but do not catch it for a day or two. The person receiving it, who is not the correct recipient, could easily clear the verification and take the crypto. In turn, leaving you out to dry as the sender since the wrong person passed the verification. It would not be on FTX to fix it as you entered the wrong email, not FTX. Only time will tell if FTX will have extra security in place. Below is an example of a phishing email:

Closing the Mailbox

Having crypto sent via email is definitely a thing of mass adoption. It creates a sense of ease and familiarity when doing it. However, it also brings problems such as phishing and the wrong recipient receiving the funds. Hopefully, FTX will have ample security measures and “undo” buttons for mistakes to make this option a more secure or viable transfer of assets.