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AI agents could lower the cost of crypto hacks, industry warns
Panelists at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium 2026 said agentic automation could scale attacks, while stressing uncertainty around trust, hallucinations, and legal liability.
Industry leaders warned that AI agents marketed as a way to reduce friction in crypto activity could also make attacks easier to execute at larger scale, according to a panel discussion reported by The Block.
Global Settlement Network CEO Ryan Kirkley said the technology could turn high value bridge and other crypto hacks into lower cost, more frequent attempts, arguing that automation removes the impracticality of targeting many victims.
Kirkley also compared the shift to earlier constraints where hackers might not spend significant time targeting a single person worth a relatively small amount, to a future in which an agent could pursue many targets at once, The Block reported.
Other panelists said the same efficiency that helps legitimate users navigate decentralized systems can help bad actors, and they debated how much authority users should hand to AI agents, highlighting concerns about clear boundaries, privacy, and security, and calling out trust issues such as hallucinations and unclear legal liability.