Sunrise: The Browser Extension Scanning For NFT Scams

Sunrise is a brand new browser extension that aims to reduce the amount of NFT scams. It works by verifying website URLs with OpenSea snd other reputable databases. Significantly, the browser extension is free and open-source, meaning everyone in the NFT ecosystem can use this for free.

What is Sunrise, and how does it prevent NFT scams?

Created by Roi Lee and Greg Hunkins, Sunrise is an open-source tool that can help people navigate the NFT world. Importantly, this browser extension acts as an extra layer of security for both people new to NFTs and those who have been here from the start. 

Sunrise doesn’t stop scams. Not much can stop scammers, but education is massively helpful. In Sunrise’s case, it gives you essential information on the websites you visit. Significantly, it provides a risk assessment based on the knowledge of the site. 

Most scams rely on you connecting your wallet to a website that quite often has a similar look to a trusted and legitimate page. However, now Sunrise is launching its browser extension to help people avoid the NFT scams.  

The founders, Roi and Greg are inventive and are now immersing themselves in Web3. In fact, the pair built, Ssuper — a Web3 native community platform and a Web3-native messenger.

After Greg lost thousands in an NFT scam, he knew that something needed to change. They began work on Sunrise, the NFT scams checker.

“Sunrise is not a silver bullet against Web3 scams, similar to how browser permissions, email spam filters, and ad-blockers are still not for Web2. But tools like these can, at a minimum, give us a fighting chance.” – Greg Hunkins, co-founder of Sunrise.

How does Sunrise work?

Obviously, Sunrise has to get the date they use to confirm NFT scams from somewhere. They do this in several ways. Sunrise gathers its information from the OpenSea API, CryptoScamDB and their own database. Using these three primary sources, they have built a configuration file that maps Web3 sites to trust scores.

For NFT communities and projects, these trust scores had added factors to consider. Sunrise, the NFT scam detector, looks at verification status, number of owners, ETH volume, project longevity, founder reputation, and impersonation likelihood. 

So, you’ve installed the Sunrise NFT scam detector extension browser and are now ready to search the web. Every website you use will have a small modal in the corner that displays the trust rating. Importantly, as the Sunrise database grows, it will have a more comprehensive knowledge of NFT scams to inform people about. From here, you can decide for yourself whether to continue or not. 

Privacy concerns with Sunrise

Security and privacy are significant concerns for everyone, and that’s why Sunrise uses an offline configuration approach to benchmark its design against privacy-centric extensions.

This is one of the main reasons they have created this fully open-source extension. Basically, your browsing activity is always local and never sent without opt-in consent. 

Sunrise itself won’t save you from NFT scams 100%, but thanks to Roi and Greg, it does make the place slightly safer and reduce the risks. The browser extension is the beginning of the fight against NFT scammers, but you must also have a security-first approach to NFTs and Web3.