Wall Street’s trillion-dollar dilemma: Why AI-powered hackers are keeping big banks off the blockchain

CertiK CEO Ronghui Gu warns that near-daily, AI-accelerated hacks in April — 27 of 30 days — are a major deterrent to institutions moving trillions of dollars onchain. High-profile incidents (a $1.46B Bybit attack and nearly $600M drained from Drift Protocol and Kelp Dao) and DeFiLlama’s tally of over $1.1B lost to DeFi hacks in a year highlight systemic vulnerabilities in smart contracts, oracles and cross-chain bridges. The piece argues well-funded attackers outpace constrained defenders, raising operational risk that will slow institutional adoption, reduce potential onchain inflows, and likely keep conservative capital off blockchain rails until security improves.