MetaMask security partner Blockaid secures $33M funding

Blockaid, a blockchain security startup and partner of the MetaMask cryptocurrency wallet, has secured $33 million funding to scale its technology designed to stop malicious transactions.

The Series A funding round for Blockaid was led by major industry venture capital firms, including Coinbase investor Ribbit Capital and the early-stage VC firm Variant. Other funding members included Sequoia Capital, Cyberstarts and Greylock Partners.

Announcing the news on Oct. 23, Blockaid also said its security platform is coming out of stealth with its inaugural customers like MetaMask, the OpenSea marketplace, the Rainbow wallet and the Zerion wallet. The startup has formed a strategic alliance aiming to provide security solutions for Web3 applications and protect users from malicious transactions.

MetaMask previously disclosed that it was collaborating with Blockaid and OpenSea in April 2023 to enable an experimental feature that would warn users when interacting with “known scams.”

“Users that opt in to the feature will benefit from OpenSea’s blocklist of known scams, as well as Blockaid’s analysis of malicious behaviors like signature farming and wallet draining,” the firm said at the time.

As part of our ongoing commitment to keep our community safe and secure, we’re working with our friends @opensea and @blockaid_ on an experimental feature in @MetaMask that will warn users when interacting with known scams. pic.twitter.com/MPn9yE7utD

— MetaMask (@MetaMask) April 5, 2023

The latest funding aims to help Blockaid further scale its blockchain security offering to improve the industry’s resistance to hacks and scams. Founded in 2022 by alumni of Unit 8200 — the largest unit in the Israel Defense Forces — Blockaid is designed to be compatible with any blockchain network. Blockaid’s security solution is also capable of detecting malicious decentralized applications and fully simulating off-chain signatures (EIP-712s).

“Blockaid protects users from fraud, phishing, and hacks,” Blockaid co-founder and CEO Ido Ben-Natan said, adding that its security platform scanned 450 million transactions in the past 3 months. He added that Blockaid “thwarted 1.2 million malicious transactions” and safeguarded $500 million in user funds that would have been otherwise compromised.

*Blockaid founders, Ido Ben-Natan (left) and Raz Niv (right). Source: Blockaid*

“By proactively preventing malicious actions through our unique architecture, Blockaid improves with every transaction, enabling developers to build great products without having to worry about security,” the executive said.

Consensys managing director Dror Avieli also noted that reducing fund loss incidents in MetaMask is a Consensys-wide initiative that has been spearheaded by Blockaid. “Blockaid has pushed our team to heights we didn’t know possible and continues to enable us to make users more secure than they have ever been in Web3,” Avieli added.

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