Valve has decided to crack down on item theft with the introduction of trade delays that can last multiple days.
Just after the news that, once again, star AWPer Kenny "kennyS" Schrub's Steam account has been comprimised and his skins stolen, Valve has revealed that they have introduced a new item trading feature: trade holds. Trade holds are delays between when a trade is confirmed and when the items actually trade hands between the two parties, which can last up to three days.
This interim time will give the account owner's time to catch any unwanted trades from occuring if their account has been hacked. The trade hold periods can be disable however, as long as the account in question has been verified through Steam's mobile authenticator in the past seven weeks, which will incentive players to further secure their accounts and prevent their their items getting hijacked in the first place.
It is yet unknown how this new system will affect third-party sites such as item markets, gambling sites, and trade systems who rely on fast Steam trades to serve their customers; more information will hopefully be released in the coming days.
