There's no getting around it, crypto adoption is on the rise. Whether attributable to bitcoin ETF approvals, the hype around game-fi, the Ordinals craze, institutional inflows, or all of the above, there is a growing sense that a new era has dawned. Mainstream acceptance of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins – as well as the tech powering them – makes a mockery of any lingering claims that the industry is "niche."

Silent Shard Snap Brings 2FA-Like Experience to MetaMask

Coincidently, MetaMask itself noted in an article last year, "2FA is a great feature to expect from any website using traditional authentication, but is a little more complicated for a self-custodial (or non-custodial) crypto wallet like MetaMask."

Silent Shard Snap is powered by Multi-Party Computation (MPC) technology and eliminates the single point of failure associated with MetaMask and other self-custody wallet solutions. Even if a hacker were to find your private key, they could not move any funds without your smartphone. Because neither MetaMask nor Silent Shard Snap stores private keys, the 2FA-like solution ensures the wallet experience remains fully self-custodial.

2FA has become a common means of safeguarding banking, social media, and email accounts.. With Silent Shard Snap, the familiar push-based 2FA model is introduced to the MetaMask interaction process, bringing slick Web2 UX to Web3. With every transaction initiated on the wallet sent to their device for confirmation, MetaMask users gain complete peace of mind.

Innovations like Silent Shard Snap are what the industry needs to reassure new crypto users that they won't lose their funds. Its arrival on an industry leader like MetaMask is a major step forward, offering the peace of mind consumers need to embrace crypto with open arms.

Why Distributed Self-Custody is a Necessity 

Those unfamiliar with the world of crypto may read the aforementioned reports and simply think they are powerless to prevent sophisticated hackers from emptying their accounts. In truth, most of the funds stolen come from exploits of unsafe DeFi and CeFi protocols, with the occasional centralized exchange failure. It's analogous to clever hackers exploiting vulnerabilities in card processing and inter-bank transfer systems in Web2. 

When a bank falls victim to a hack or robbery, customers' funds are typically protected by insurance. For the most part, this isn't the case in crypto – so the fears of industry newcomers are understandable as the stakes are extremely high. 

The lack of intermediaries, however, can be a blessing. Users are compelled to follow best practices to protect their investments, which generally means using a self-custody wallet. This is where the phrase Not Your Keys, Not Your Crypto comes from: if you retain possession of your private keys, you alone can access the funds in your account. It's like having the only key to an impenetrable bank vault.

Self-custody wallets are considered the best of the best in terms of security. So long as you don't expose your private keys to the internet (recording them in a Google doc, for example, or storing them in a desktop file), and you are careful with what protocols and open-source software you interact with, nobody can gain unauthorized access to your account. 

Companies like Silence Laboratories and MetaMask are at the forefront of creating simple yet effective user experiences that remove much of the burden and learning curve of distributed self-custody. With the help of these entities and others, the next wave of crypto adoption will benefit from superior security, improved UX, and an altogether happier ecosystem.

This post was authored by an external contributor and does not represent Benzinga’s opinions and has not been edited for content. This contains sponsored content and is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.