AI vs. AI: Binance touts fraud prevention wins, securing $10.53B for 5.4M user

With artificial intelligence lowering the barrier for cybercriminals to execute deepfakes and voice clones, crypto security has become an “AI vs. AI” arms race. 

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has released its latest security report detailing how its autonomous systems are fighting fire with fire.

How is Binance fighting crypto crime? 

According to a Binance Research report published in April, AI-powered exploits now cost roughly $1.22 per smart contract, and the cost is projected to fall by an additional 22% every two months. Advanced AI models achieve a 72.2% success rate in “exploit” mode on EVMbench, while the “detect” success rate runs at only half that.

The crypto sector accounts for 88% of all detected deepfake fraud cases globally. Deepfake-related losses in North America alone exceeded $410 million in the first half of 2025. Crypto-related fraud reached an estimated $17 billion in 2025, a 30% year-over-year increase. AI-enabled scams are 4.5x more profitable than traditional ones, and impersonation tactics surged 1,400% year-on-year in 2025.

Binance reports that it has responded by setting up over 24 AI security programs powered by more than 100 AI models, preventing approximately $10.53 billion from being stolen and protecting 5.4 million users from the beginning of 2025 through the first quarter of 2026. 

In the first quarter of 2026 alone, Binance’s AI risk control system interfered with 22.9 million scam and phishing attacks, safeguarding $1.98 billion in user funds. Roughly 57% of fraud detection work is now handled by AI, drastically reducing the rate of credit card fraud to 60-70% below the industry average. The platform has also blacklisted over 36,000 malicious on-chain addresses since its launch.

DeFi hacks and scams persist 

While centralized exchanges like Binance are strengthening their defenses, the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector has continued to be a critical vulnerability. 

Binance CEO Richard Teng pointed out that in April 2026 alone, DeFi hacks amounted to $621 million, the highest since March 2022. Meanwhile, DeFi projects accounted for approximately $609 million of the April total. Exploiters extracted the funds across 28 separate incidents. 

“The industry must continue investing in security measures to protect its users,” Teng warned. 

Despite these alarming losses, DeFi hacks have steadily declined from $3.6 billion in 2020 to $1 billion in 2025. Notably, 66% of these April 2026 attacks were due to compromised access controls, with social engineering and DNS attacks as the dominant tactics. 

As for centralized exchanges, Binance’s AI defenses have shown remarkable success, dropping its phishing success rate eightfold from 3.2% to 0.4% and illicit fund exposure has been reduced by 96% thanks to its AI models.

Beyond defense, the exchange is also taking proactive recovery measures. In 2025, Binance assisted in recovering approximately $12.8 million in funds for users and aided global law enforcement in freezing about $131 million in stolen assets. 

Binance also recently announced that its subsidiary, Binance Bahrain, successfully renewed its ISO/IEC 27001 (Information Security Management) and ISO/IEC 27701 (Privacy Information Management) certifications. The renewal, audited by A-LIGN, shows that the platform is complying with the highest international standards for safeguarding user data. 

Teng shared that he envisions Binance evolving into a “super financial app” and a multi-asset gateway for 3 billion users worldwide.”

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