Solana Foundation CISO Warns AI Is Making Crypto Scams More Convincing

TLDR

• Solana Foundation CISO Michael Coates says AI is making crypto scams more convincing through phishing, impersonation, and voice deepfakes.
• The warning is about social engineering, not a flaw in Solana’s blockchain or smart contracts.
• Coates previously worked as CISO at Twitter and led security at Mozilla before joining Solana Foundation this year.
• He says crypto systems need to be secure by default instead of relying on users to spot every scam.
• Coates also flagged quantum computing as a longer term security concern for crypto networks.

Michael Coates, the new chief information security officer at the Solana Foundation, is warning that artificial intelligence is making crypto scams harder to spot. He says the danger comes from social engineering, not weaknesses in blockchain code.

Coates previously served as CISO at Twitter. He also led security efforts at Mozilla during the browser wars. He joined the Solana Foundation earlier this year.

His new role covers more than protecting the foundation itself. He also works with projects across the Solana ecosystem and meets with regulators on cybersecurity standards.

AI Is Changing How Scams Work

Coates told CoinDesk that many recent crypto hacks did not come from smart contract bugs. Instead, they came from compromised credentials and fake identities.

“In many cases, it is an operational security issue or a Web2 issue that led to a key compromise,” he said.

He expects this trend to grow worse as AI tools improve. Attackers can now generate realistic messages, fake voices, and convincing identities at scale.

“The social engineering piece is going to get a lot worse because of the power of AI and deepfakes,” Coates said. He warned that fully spoofed phone calls using voices of people victims know could become common.

In crypto, mistakes are often permanent. If someone signs a bad transaction or shares a seed phrase, there is no bank to call and no way to reverse the transfer.

That makes convincing scams especially costly. Coates said attackers will keep looking for any mistake because the funds involved cannot be recovered once stolen.

Building Systems That Expect Failure

Coates does not believe scams can be fully prevented. He said even careful users will eventually fall for a well made con.

“You cannot fully prevent anyone from falling victim,” he said. “Eventually, you will be fooled because the cons are that good.”

Because of that, he argues organizations need layered security. If one layer fails, another should still protect the user or the funds.

This applies to individuals and to crypto teams. A fake vendor, investor, or colleague using AI generated audio or messages could trick an employee into approving a transaction or handing over access.

Coates said the industry’s long term success depends on making the secure choice the default one. Users should not need to be security experts to stay safe.

“We need to meet the users where they are, and we need to make the default secure decision for the user,” he said.

He also pointed to quantum computing as a future risk for crypto networks, including Solana. The timing of when quantum computers could break current encryption remains unknown.

“The challenge with quantum readiness is we don’t know when the Q-day will hit,” Coates said. He added that the fix is known: adopting post-quantum algorithms early.

The Solana Foundation has already published its own strategy for preparing for that shift. Coates said whether the threat is AI scams or quantum computing, the same principle applies. Systems should protect users automatically, rather than expecting perfect behavior every time.

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