What to know:
- Traditional financial institutions are interested in moving trillions of dollars of assets onchain over the next decade but are deterred by pervasive security risks.
- CertiK CEO Ronghui Gu says near-daily hacks—many accelerated by AI and targeting smart contracts, oracles and cross-chain bridges—are a major barrier to large-scale institutional adoption.
- Recent exploits, including a $1.46 billion Bybit hack and hundreds of millions drained from Drift Protocol and Kelp Dao, underscore how well-funded attackers outspend constrained defenders and expose systemic vulnerabilities in DeFi.
CertiK’s CEO, Ronghui Gu, says that while banks and other traditional financial companies want to start using blockchain technology to manage trillions of dollars, they’re hesitant because of concerns about hacking and security breaches.
I’m seeing a growing trend of institutions exploring ways to bring their assets onto blockchains. Based on my observations and conversations, like the one I had with Gu, there’s a real expectation that we could see multiple trillions – potentially even tens of trillions – of dollars worth of assets managed onchain within the next decade.
A large shift of money into new digital financial systems is being held back. While banks and traditional financial companies see the benefits of these systems, they’re currently considered too risky for those who carefully manage investments.
Gu explained that bringing traditional financial assets onto blockchains is hindered by significant security risks, including attacks from artificial intelligence, flaws in smart contracts, manipulation of data sources, and hacks targeting bridges between blockchains. These concerns are a major reason why trillions of dollars haven’t yet moved onto these systems.
According to Gu, the concerns about recent hacks are valid. CertiK recorded almost daily hacks in April, making it the worst month in four years. They believe this surge is largely due to attacks powered by artificial intelligence. Gu stated that April saw hacks on all but three days, and CertiK believes AI is the only explanation for such a rapid increase.
In April, hackers believed to be from North Korea stole almost $600 million from two cryptocurrency lending platforms, Drift Protocol and Kelp Dao. Earlier, in February 2025, Bybit was hit by a massive $1.46 billion hack, currently considered the largest crypto hack on record.
Recent data from DefiLlama reveals that over $1.1 billion was lost due to hacks in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space over the past year. This highlights how weaknesses in systems that connect different blockchains can quickly cause problems for the entire DeFi world.
Gu argues that when systems repeatedly fail, it’s a sign of an uneven playing field. This happens because attackers have virtually unlimited resources, giving them an inherent advantage.
Deep pockets
Hackers typically target platforms that hold a lot of money, because successfully breaching them can yield huge financial gains. This motivates them to invest significant resources into their attacks.
It’s surprisingly affordable for someone trying to find weaknesses in a computer protocol – they could spend just $10,000 to $20,000 to run continuous scans for days or even weeks. However, those responsible for protecting these protocols often have very limited budgets, according to Gu.
Gu explained that they serve 5,000 clients. When a client asks for help, they have a set budget, and the team uses a combination of automated tools and human experts to stay within it. This creates a significant disadvantage because while our security teams work under contract with limited time to review code, attackers constantly search for vulnerabilities without any such restrictions.
According to Gu, hackers are using AI to create faster and more effective attacks. The recent surge in these attacks, which has been happening almost daily since April, may continue for the rest of the year.
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2026-05-30 18:10