BitClout Accused of Uploading Users’ Keys to Public Server

beincrypto.com April 08 2021 13:34, UTC
Reading time: ~2 m

BitClout was publically denounced on Twitter this morning after it was revealed that the platform uploads users’ keys to its server on every API request.

Doing so gives any BitClout employee access to that server the ability to steal any and all monies on the platform at that time.

The tweet came from James Prestwich, founder of Summa, a Blockchain interoperability and cross-chain communication company.

He ended the Tweet with more venom, this time directed at BitClout’s founder Nader Al-Naji:

“@Nadertheory and team [sic] are too incompetent to build a browser wallet, so they decided not to…”

Further sarcastic Tweets followed, with Prestwich remarking, “…very polite of them to take custody of your funds without telling you”. Another compared the scenario to taking a user’s credit cards and passing them around the office.

In addition, he advised any users who had used the seed phrase in question to “consider it compromised, and rotate funds to new addresses from a new seed phrase.”

Already in Trouble

This is not the first controversial revelation involving BitClout in recent weeks. At the end of March, it was reported that the crypto project faced legal charges over selling social tokens without the users’ permission. 

US law firm Anderson Kill P.C. issued a cease and desist letter to Al-Naji on behalf of their client Brandon Curtis. Curtis believed BitClout was using his private information without consent. In a Tweet of his own, the Radar Relay employee called BitClout “unethical” and “blatantly illegal.”

Even more recently, BitClout removed the account of Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong after he demanded they stop misleading the public. He accused the site’s creators of using his name and photo without his permission. According to an earlier report, Prime Minister Lee also insisted he had nothing to do with the BitClout platform.

What is BitClout?

BitClout is a type of blockchain with its own cryptocurrency (BTDX) and platform.

A social platform in the same vein as Hive or Steem, it allows users to buy and sell coins. These personalized coins are tagged to real Twitter profiles—particularly those of celebrities and other influential people. BTDX can be purchased and traded with bitcoin.

