AI Advances Could Accelerate Security Threats to Crypto and DeFi

Cryptocurrency platforms have long faced risks from smart-contract and system vulnerabilities, and generative AI is rapidly lowering the barriers for attackers to find, analyze and exploit weaknesses. Mitchell Amador, CEO of blockchain security platform Immunefi, said the proliferation of new models such as Claude Opus 4.8 and ChatGPT 5.5 has fueled a “vulnerability apocalypse” in crypto security.

Amador said AI models are a leading cause of the surge in cryptocurrency hacks and losses in 2026. More than $634 million was stolen from crypto platforms in April 2026 alone, marking both a sharp increase in monthly security losses and the highest level since early 2025. The figures underscore the need for operators to accelerate improvements in vulnerability detection and defenses.

Once private keys are stolen in a cryptocurrency transaction, the assets are usually difficult to recover. Wallets, exchanges and smart contracts have therefore long been targets for hackers. Ledger Chief Technology Officer Charles Guillemet said generative AI can quickly identify vulnerabilities, write malware and launch social-engineering attacks, sharply reducing the expertise and cost required.

As of July 2026, crypto-related attacks had caused $1.4 billion in losses over the previous year. Guillemet urged the industry to adopt formal verification, which uses mathematical methods to validate that software works correctly, and to strengthen hardware-level protections. He also advised investors to plan their asset custody on the assumption that many software and internet-connected systems could eventually be compromised.