“ALS is taking my body, it shouldn’t also take my money”, Esteban Bullrich’s complaint against a platform that sells cryptocurrencies

The PRO representative was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in 2021. As he argued in a post, his features have suffered changes in recent times due to the effects of the neurodegenerative disease he suffers from and because of that he cannot overcome the app’s facial controls. preventing you from accessing your accounts. Shortly after, the answer came from the cryptocurrency exchange application, when the topic gained viral and media significance.

“ALS is taking my body. You shouldn’t take my money too“. In English and with that phrase, Bullrich headed his post this Monday, full of frustration and directed against the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange platform and with mentions of its CEO, Richard Teng, and its co-founder, Changpeng Zhao. The public discharge was the final instance of a complaint without response as a user.

It is that he Face IDone of the platform’s security systems to allow entry to the app, verifies the identity of the account owner based on their facial features. For this, unique characteristics are analyzed such as the shape of the nose, the distance of the eyes or the structure of the cheekbones. The problem that the system poses – and that Bullrich raised as a user – is that, if the account owner suffered a change in his features, either due to an illness or an accident, he ends up finding himself with a digital wall that prevents you from accessing your investments.

According to Bullrich, since five months ago the Face ID of the leading cryptocurrency application stopped recognizing it because the illness he suffers changed his face. Something particularly worrying in a platform whose main assets, cryptocurrencies, have a very high volatility. Just to cite an example, in the last six months Bitcoin went from being worth more than 120 thousand dollars to 65 thousand, almost half. And, in the last week, it rose from 68 thousand to 76 thousand.

The criticism from the former senator and minister also points to the lack of response from the application. “Nothing. No accessible alternative for users with disabilities,” he questioned this Monday, adding: “This is what happens when a platform that moves billions treats accessibility as optional“.

Clarion spoke with the representatives of the platform in Argentina, who reported that They were already aware of the problem and that they were working to solve it.

On Monday afternoon, they contacted the PRO leader from the platform. “Esteban, we listen to you and we are sorry this happened. Our team is already communicating with you directly to solve it,” they wrote in response to the publication.

From Binance they also maintained that the issue will be escalated internally in the company, “as a accessibility failure“that needs to be corrected.”Gracias for raising your voice and for demanding more from us“they added.

The Binance firm is defined as “the cryptocurrency platform largest in the world”, and no wonder. It has 280 million users all over the world. Through its website or its mobile phone app, it allows you to buy, sell, exchange and store cryptocurrencies.

He exchangefounded in 2017, allows you to use debit or credit cards or even bank transfers to purchase cryptocurrencies.

In addition, it allows you to invest crypto assets to generate returns.

The cryptocurrency app allows its users to configure a second identification factor to protect their investments against a possible hack of their passwords, through the “Binance ID”a login tool that the platform uses and that, in theory, should make logins easier.

The system of biometric authentication was introduced by the app in 2022 and allows its users to establish, at their choice, facial verification or fingerprint as a second method of income. But there are also other methods, such as a authenticator (an app that is installed on the phone and that, from time to time, provides a unique codeas a kind of second numerical password, which allows you to enter Binance).

From the platform they highlight that two-factor authentication (2FA) is essential to protect accountsas it adds an extra layer of security, instead of just using a password. “With 2FA authentication activated, you need to provide two different pieces of information to access your account,” they highlight.

Binance maintains that this action “significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized access, since even if someone manages to obtain or guess the password,” they would still need to physically have the user’s phone to enter the verification code.