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Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko said phishing and social engineering attacks pose the greatest danger to cryptocurrency holders, ranking them above the risk of AI or quantum computers defeating cryptographic security. He made the remark on X, as reported by U.Today.
In his post on X, Yakovenko framed the threat explicitly in contrast to technical attacks on blockchain cryptography. The point is that attackers do not need to break the chain; they need only persuade a holder to hand over access.
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Key facts
- Yakovenko wrote that phishing and social engineering, not AI breaking math or quantum computers, is the biggest threat to crypto.
- He recommended a separate iOS device running Apple’s Lockdown Mode plus a multisignature wallet as a low-cost safeguard.
- Binance disclosed an October 29 breach affecting around $6.34 billion in digital assets, per its November 3 investigation update.
- The Security Alliance (SEAL) handled 99 incidents from October 28 to November 3.
- SEAL tracked 5,137 phishing domains in that reporting window.
How the Binance breach unfolded
Binance’s investigation update described a chain of manipulation rather than a technical exploit. A Binance software engineer was approached by people posing as representatives of a fictitious company and was walked through fake job interviews.
The employee was then persuaded to download what looked like a routine technical assignment. That file carried malicious code, which gave the attackers a foothold on the employee’s computer. From there, the intruders combined compromised devices, stolen credentials and an internal AI tool to reach Binance’s wallet infrastructure and move funds out of hot wallets without authorization.
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The episode fits Yakovenko’s argument: the weak point was a person making a plausible-seeming decision, not the underlying cryptography.
Support-call scams and phishing sites
SEAL’s November 4 report covered a week of incidents in which three cases involving fraudulent customer support calls cost victims about $1.57 million and 1.12 BTC between October 28 and November 3.
One case involved scammers impersonating Apple support staff to obtain a victim’s Apple ID credentials; that person had stored a crypto recovery phrase in cloud storage. In another, a victim disclosed a wallet recovery phrase during a fake Telegram support call. SEAL also counted 5,137 phishing domains over the period.
Why it matters
The losses described by SEAL and Binance required no cryptographic breakthrough, only deception. That shifts the burden of security toward user behavior and operational habits, which is why Yakovenko’s suggested defenses center on isolating high-value wallets rather than on protocol-level fixes. For exchanges and large holders, the Binance case shows that staff remain a target even when perimeter systems are sound.
What to watch
Binance has published its November 3 investigation update and further findings on the breach, along with any remediation steps it announces, will indicate how exchanges adjust employee-facing security. SEAL’s rolling incident and phishing-domain counts offer a near-term gauge of whether support-call scams are subsiding.
Source: U.Today
