AI is Making Crypto Hacks Cheaper and Easier, Ledger CTO Warns

Artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing the economics of cryptocurrency security, making cyberattacks faster and more affordable than ever before, according to Charles Guillemet, chief technology officer at hardware wallet provider Ledger. The warning comes as the crypto industry grapples with unprecedented theft levels, with over $1.4 billion in assets stolen or lost through hacks and exploits over the past year.

Guillemet told CoinDesk that AI tools are eroding the traditional security advantage that made hacking expensive and difficult. “Finding vulnerabilities and exploiting them becomes really, really easy,” Guillemet said. “The cost is going down to zero.”

The threat has become increasingly urgent. Just this week, Solana-based decentralized finance protocol Drift was exploited, with attackers draining $285 million worth of digital assets in one of the year’s most severe breaches. A week prior, an attack on yield protocol Resolv resulted in $25 million in losses.

AI-Generated Code Compounds the Problem

The security challenge extends beyond attack capabilities. As more developers rely on AI tools to write code, vulnerabilities could proliferate across the ecosystem. Guillemet warned that AI-generated code may introduce systemic weaknesses.

“There is no ‘make it secure’ button,” Guillemet said. “We are going to produce a lot of code that will be insecure by design.”

Tasks that previously required skilled researchers months to complete—such as reverse engineering software or chaining multiple exploits—can now be accomplished in seconds with the right AI prompts. For blockchain protocols where code controls large pools of funds, this acceleration poses an existential challenge.

“You need to be perfect,” Guillemet warned development teams building blockchain protocols. The margin for error has shrunk dramatically as AI-assisted attackers become more capable.

From Security Imbalance to Arms Race

Cybersecurity has traditionally relied on an economic asymmetry: defending a system should cost less and be easier than attacking it. AI is dismantling this fundamental principle.

The shift forces crypto platforms to reconsider their entire security architecture from the ground up. Traditional approaches like code audits are no longer sufficient to catch all vulnerabilities in an AI-accelerated threat environment.

Formal Verification and Hardware Solutions

Guillemet pointed to formal verification—using mathematical proofs to validate code—as a stronger defensive approach than conventional audits alone. This method can identify bugs that traditional reviews might miss.

Hardware-based security represents another critical layer of defense. Devices like hardware wallets isolate private keys from internet-connected systems, significantly reducing exposure to online threats. “When you have a dedicated device not exposed to the internet, it is more secure by design,” Guillemet said.

This approach gains importance as malware becomes increasingly sophisticated. Guillemet described advanced attacks that scan compromised mobile phones for wallet seed phrases, allowing hackers to drain funds without any user interaction.

A Stark Message for Users

For average cryptocurrency users, Guillemet’s assessment is sobering: assume that most systems you use can and will fail. “You can’t trust most of the systems that you use,” Guillemet stated directly.

This reality may push users toward cold storage solutions, stronger operational security practices, and keeping sensitive data offline. However, risks extend beyond software vulnerabilities to include physical attacks targeting cryptocurrency holders and their assets.

A Divided Future

Ledger’s CTO expects the crypto industry to split into two categories. Critical systems like wallets and core protocols will likely invest heavily in security infrastructure and adapt their approaches. Much of the broader software ecosystem, however, may struggle to keep pace with AI-accelerated threats.

“It’s really easier to hack everything,” Guillemet concluded, capturing the essence of the challenge facing cryptocurrency security going forward.

The combination of AI-powered attack tools, AI-generated vulnerable code, and increasingly sophisticated malware represents a fundamental shift in the threat landscape. Cryptocurrency platforms must respond with equally fundamental changes to how they approach security, validation, and asset protection.

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