Crypto exchange hacks risk becoming routine. An AI researcher known by the nickname TheCoinClapper issued this warning following the Binance incident. In his assessment, further developments will be significantly worse.

The analyst notes that he tried to warn the community a week earlier. According to him, the world is experiencing a serious cybersecurity attack, and artificial intelligence tools helped organize it. The researcher claims that a large-scale cyberattack on US power grids has been underway for several days, and the authorities are hiding it from the public. Against the backdrop of the coming catastrophe, the Covid pandemic, in his opinion, will seem like "child's play."

Anthropic's position: 18 months of trials ahead

The AI researcher's rhetoric echoes recent statements from Anthropic. Deputy Chief Information Security Officer Jason Clinton warned that the worst for cyber defense is yet to come and the industry will have to hold out for about 18 months. He urged security chiefs to immediately request resources from boards of directors for basic protection rather than for deploying AI tools.

Back in August, Clinton predicted a "tsunami of vulnerabilities" and advised isolating critical infrastructure networks. He proposed two approaches:

  • air gap — physically disconnecting systems from external networks;
  • data diode — a device that allows information to pass in only one direction and prevents an attacker from transmitting anything back.

The reason for the publication was the US National Security Agency's guidance on protecting programmable logic controllers — devices that control industrial equipment. The document describes attacks on Siemens controllers using AI. In addition, Anthropic reported that more than 67% of the company's blocked accounts were used for cyberattacks with the help of AI.

Cryptalist analysis: The correlation between warnings from independent AI researchers and Anthropic's official position points to a systemic shift in the threat landscape: generative AI lowers the barrier to entry for attackers and accelerates the preparation of exploits. For crypto exchanges, this means growing operational and reputational risks, as well as a likely tightening of requirements for reserves and security audits. Investors should more carefully assess the infrastructure resilience of platforms, not just their liquidity and trading volumes.