The crypto sector has long been plagued by hacking incidents and exploits, but the situation is now being exacerbated by artificial intelligence. Charles Guillemet, Chief Technology Officer at Ledger, a leading crypto wallet provider, notes that the economic balance of cybersecurity is being disrupted as AI tools make it faster and cheaper to launch attacks on systems. "Identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities has become extremely easy," Guillemet stated in an interview.
"The cost of doing so is essentially zero." His comments come at a time when crypto heists are once again making headlines, with the recent exploit of Solana-based DeFi protocol Drift resulting in the theft of $285 million worth of digital assets, one of the most severe exploits this year. The week prior, an attack on yield protocol Resolv led to $25 million in losses. According to data from DefiLlama, over $1.4 billion in assets were stolen or lost due to crypto attacks over the past year.
The traditional security approach has relied on an imbalance, where it is more difficult and expensive to hack a system than the potential reward. However, AI is eroding this advantage, as tasks that once required skilled researchers months to complete, such as reverse engineering software or chaining exploits, can now be accomplished in seconds with the right prompts.
For crypto, where code often controls large pools of funds, this shift significantly raises the stakes. "You need to be perfect," Guillemet warned teams developing blockchain protocols. The problem is further complicated by AI-generated code, which could lead to the rapid spread of vulnerabilities as more developers rely on AI tools. "There is no 'make it secure' button," he said.
"We are going to produce a lot of code that will be insecure by design." To address this issue, crypto protocols need to rethink security from the ground up. Guillemet suggested that formal verification, which involves using mathematical proofs to validate code, is a more robust approach than traditional audits, which may miss bugs.
He also pointed to hardware-based security as an additional layer, with devices like hardware wallets isolating private keys from internet-connected systems, reducing exposure. "When you have a dedicated device not exposed to the internet, it is more secure by design," he said.
This approach is becoming increasingly relevant as malware grows more advanced, with Guillemet describing attacks that scan compromised phones for wallet seed phrases, allowing hackers to drain funds without user interaction. For average crypto users, Guillemet's message is clear: assume that systems can and will fail. "You can't trust most of the systems that you use," Guillemet said. This could lead more users to adopt cold storage, strengthen their operational security, and keep sensitive data offline.
However, even with these precautions, risks extend beyond software, including physical attacks targeting crypto holders. Guillemet expects a divide to emerge, with critical systems like wallets and protocols investing heavily in security and adapting, while much of the broader software ecosystem may struggle to keep up.
"It's really easier to hack everything," he said.