Mihoyo Silently Improved Its Account Security, End Up Slaying the Account Trading Market

Johnson Ge

Recently, Mihoyo secretly changed their authentication methods, allowing player to retrieve their accounts via real ID verification in China.

Before that, Mihoyo accounts were mainly secured by email and SMS verification. The secure email address cannot be modified, and people may bind/modify other verification methods via email verification. Additionally, if an account only has phone number as its two-step authenticator, it can also be stolen by simply binding a new email address. This was often criticized for not secure enough against hackers, resulting in many players losing their accounts permanently.

The newly implemented real ID verification added a new layer of security that allows players to retrieve their accounts via facial recognition when the email is not bonded or lost. 

However, it has also created an unexpected side effect.

Genshin Impact has a lively account trading market. We found thousands of search results for “Genshin Impact Account” on eBay, and some top vendors on Taobao can have more than 20,000 confirmed transactions. The new ID authentication means these vendors can retrieve the sold accounts with very little effort. There are already reports showing some players losing their purchased accounts, and this could mean the heydays of Genshin Impact account trading are soon to be over.