“Secure and Scam Free”
Verifi
In a 3 week sprint for the Ross FinTech Cryptocurrency Challenge, created a blockchain-adjacent solution in the form of a browser extension, that solves issues of scams and unpredictability in the fast-moving NFT space.
Advanced to the finals - top 7 teams out of 48.
Project type: Team of 3
Role: Ideation, Product Designer, Technology Planner
Project length: 3 Weeks | February 2022
Tools: Figma, Ethscan, Opensea, Google Suite
Who are we?
“We are a team of business, engineering and information majors, seeking to make a difference in securing the crypto world for NFT users through blockchain-adjacent technology.
Our motivation this system, Verifi, stems from a mutual fear of encountering malicious systems or being scammed by NFT creators who create fraudulent products.”
The Problem?
When minting an NFT project, there is a short amount of time before the project is sold out. Users do not have the time or knowledge to find and analyze smart contracts and success in this short window.
Users need a faster, more reliable way to mint and purchase NFTs with peace of mind.
How might we build a safe NFT space that let buyers focus on the purchasing and minting process without the worry of being scammed?
The Solution?
A browser extension and tool that easily verifies the safety and predicted success of NFT smart contracts on crypto marketplaces and public pre-minting project websites, before connecting your wallet to the project.
How does it work?
Scam Protection
Verifi will own a shell wallet that connects to the “mint” button on a website, and authenticates and copies the receiving public address of the project.
When on an NFT marketplace, like OpenSea, we find the smart contract link and compare it to the official smart contract link to see if they match and are verified.
It then compares the project address to Etherscan in order to find the smart contract.
The smart contract is then parsed for malicious language using natural language processing and artificial intelligence.
The user is informed of potential threats via the extension. Threats are converted into plain language and displayed in the extension pop-up for ease of use.
NFT projects in the pre-minting phase may not yet be connected to the smart contract.
In this case, users can see creator warnings, predicted success rate, and other security concerns with the website registration, pulling from public records.
The project’s founder is scanned from user-generated information and on search engines for previous fraudulent behavior.
We check what founders are doing with project tokens to detect scams and project abandonment before minting happens.
Users can create alerts for when the project starts minting and the smart contract is able to be scanned.
Success Prediction
The project is also scanned for social media buzz and listening, founder analysis, financial data, and other algorithms to predict its success and profit margins for the user.
The Partial Prototype?
The Business Model?
In progress…
The Result?
Not yet!
What Next?
Verifi will have a mobile application for expanding its use cases.
Users can connect the app to their wallet, so when they access mobile minting sites they are redirected to the app for a safety check
Users can enter the name of the project and receive information about its safety and success rate
Users can also browse NFT projects both in the pre-minting and buying phase to see which are “trending”
Featured projects will receive stars next to their names to display a combination of predicted success rate, trustworthy safety, and “promotion” by the creator
Users can submit “warnings” about founders, and projects related to these creators will be flagged