The crypto sector has long been plagued by hacking incidents and exploits, and now artificial intelligence is exacerbating the issue. According to Charles Guillemet, Chief Technology Officer at Ledger, a prominent crypto wallet provider, the economic foundations of cybersecurity are crumbling as AI tools make it faster and more affordable to launch attacks on systems.
"Identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities has become extremely straightforward," Guillemet stated in an interview with CoinDesk. "The cost is essentially dropping to zero." His comments come at a time when crypto heists are once again making headlines, with the recent Solana-based decentralized finance protocol Drift being exploited, resulting in the theft of $285 million worth of digital assets. This incident is one of the most severe exploits of the year so far. The week prior, an attack on the yield protocol Resolv led to $25 million in losses.
In total, over $1.4 billion in assets were stolen or lost due to crypto attacks over the past year, according to data from DefiLlama. 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.
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 the crypto industry, where code often controls large pools of funds, this shift significantly raises the stakes.
"You need to be flawless," Guillemet cautioned 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 magic 'make it secure' button," he said. "We will produce a significant amount of code that is inherently insecure by design." To address this issue, crypto protocols must rethink security from the ground up.
Guillemet pointed to formal verification, which involves using mathematical proofs to validate code, as a more robust approach than traditional audits, which may overlook bugs. He also emphasized the importance of hardware-based security, such as devices like hardware wallets that isolate private keys from internet-connected systems, thereby reducing exposure. "When you have a dedicated device that is not exposed to the internet, it is more secure by design," he explained.
This approach is becoming increasingly relevant as malware grows more sophisticated. Guillemet described 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 straightforward: assume that systems can and will fail. "You cannot trust most of the systems you use," Guillemet said.
This could lead more users to adopt cold storage, strengthen their operational security, and keep sensitive data offline. However, even then, risks extend beyond software, including physical attacks targeting crypto holders.
Guillemet expects a divide to emerge in the future. Critical systems, such as wallets and protocols, will invest heavily in security and adapt, but a significant portion of the broader software ecosystem may struggle to keep up.
"It's becoming increasingly easier to hack everything," he said.