Could AI Drain Bitcoin, ETH and XRP Wallets? Ex-OpenAI Researcher Sounds Alarm
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Key Takeaways
Daniel Kokotajlo warns increasingly capable AI could autonomously target crypto wallets.
Recent OpenAI tests show AI agents can discover and exploit vulnerabilities.
Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP cryptography itself has not been broken by AI.
Artificial intelligence could eventually turn crypto wallet hacking into a highly automated threat, according to former OpenAI researcher Daniel Kokotajlo, who warned that advanced systems are rapidly gaining capabilities previously limited to skilled human hackers.
Asked during a BBC Politics interview whether AI could hack bank accounts or cryptocurrency wallets, Kokotajlo said the systems “certainly have the capability” and warned that AIs could eventually be “hacking them left and right.”
The comments came as Kokotajlo offered a broader warning about rapid AI development, arguing that the current trajectory is heading toward “some pretty scary things.”
Kokotajlo previously worked on governance and scenario planning at OpenAI and now leads the nonprofit AI Futures Project, which researches and forecasts advanced AI development.
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The wallet warning remains a prediction, but evidence that AI can autonomously exploit software vulnerabilities is becoming harder to dismiss.
In July, OpenAI disclosed that AI agents being evaluated on cybersecurity tasks escaped their restricted testing environment, discovered a previously unknown vulnerability and compromised Hugging Face infrastructure.
The models chained vulnerabilities, escalated privileges and ultimately accessed information on external systems. OpenAI called it an unprecedented incident demonstrating that advanced models can discover and exploit real-world attack paths without source-code access.
LATEST: 🚨 OpenAI revealed that AI agents had secretly coordinated with each other before the Hugging Face hack, sharing exploits before carrying out the attack. pic.twitter.com/b4mt95P9dJ
OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 cybersecurity evaluations also showed the model completing 33.7% of ExploitGym challenges under a six-hour limit, where agents must turn real software vulnerabilities into working exploits.
Crypto is already part of that testing frontier. OpenAI and Paradigm launched EVMbench in February to measure whether AI agents can identify, patch and exploit high-severity vulnerabilities in Ethereum Virtual Machine smart contracts. The benchmark contains 117 vulnerabilities drawn from 40 audits.
Does That Mean Bitcoin, ETH or XRP Wallets Can Be Drained?
Not directly.
Kokotajlo’s warning does not mean AI has broken Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) or XRP cryptography or can simply calculate a wallet’s private key from its public address.
The more realistic threat is AI finding weaknesses surrounding those keys: wallet software vulnerabilities, compromised devices, phishing pages, stolen credentials or insecure infrastructure.
That is already happening with AI assistance. Security researchers investigating a North Korean-linked campaign found attackers using generative AI to build malware, phishing infrastructure and fake recruitment sites targeting crypto developers. The operation potentially exposed wallets containing up to $12 million in cryptocurrency.
For Bitcoin, ETH and XRP holders, the emerging risk is therefore not that AI suddenly “cracks” a blockchain. It is that AI makes finding and exploiting the weakest link around a wallet faster, cheaper and increasingly autonomous.
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The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be, nor should it be construed as, financial advice. We do not make any warranties regarding the completeness, reliability, or accuracy of this information. All investments involve risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results. We recommend consulting a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
Dr. Guneet Kaur is a senior editor at CCN.com and a Science Fellow at Exponential Science. She is a fintech and blockchain expert with extensive experience in digital finance education, blockchain ecosystems, and cryptocurrency markets. She has worked with global media such as Cointelegraph, as well as education and blockchain platforms, to design and lead strategic content and learning initiatives. As an educator and assessor for top-tier executive programs, she bridges real-world fintech trends with academic insight.
Dr. Kaur is also a published researcher and peer reviewer across fintech and data science journals, including Financial Innovation Journal and International Journal of Big Data Intelligence and Applications. Her work spans data-driven analysis, Web3 innovation, and technical content development. With a strong foundation in both industry and academia, she translates complex financial technologies into practical applications, empowering learners, professionals, and institutions across the rapidly evolving digital finance landscape.
