CSGO keys can no longer be traded as of a recent update to the game. Most Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players are unlikely to be affected by this change, but a small segment of the world's criminal population are likely going to have to change things up, along with heavy users of the Steam marketplace.
The change went through in Patch 1.37.2.2 on Monday evening. As noted in the Steam news post announcing the change, one of the more critical items of note is the fact that any keys that existed prior to this patch will still be tradable. New keys, however, will be bound to the account that purchased them.
Valve makes a pretty penny off of people trading various items on the Steam marketplace, so why the change? To sum it up in one word: fraud.
Why Can't CSGO Keys Be Traded Anymore?
Believe it or not, the reason that Valve has made it so you can't trade keys for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive anymore comes down to something rather unexpected: fraud. Here's the details direct from the blog post announcing the change:
Why make this change? In the past, most key trades we observed were between legitimate customers. However, worldwide fraud networks have recently shifted to using CS:GO keys to liquidate their gains. At this point, nearly all key purchases that end up being traded or sold on the marketplace are believed to be fraud-sourced. As a result we have decided that newly purchased keys will not be tradeable or marketable.
[...]
Unfortunately this change will impact some legitimate users, but combating fraud is something we continue to prioritize across Steam and our products.
As previously stated, any keys that existed prior to this change being made can still be traded. However, they're an expendable item, so the number of tradable CSGO keys is expected to shrink as time goes on.
These changes may well have an effect on the legitimate trading community. As noted in this /r/GlobalOffensive submission, traders would often use CSGO keys as currency in their trades. Now, some other item will likely have to take its place for those transactions.
What do you think of Valve making CSGO keys untradable? Do you think this was a wise move on their part? Let us know in the comments below!
