NEAR Co-founder Warns AI-Driven Cyber Threats Are Outpacing Traditional Code Audits

The Growing Threat of AI in Cybersecurity

NEAR Protocol co-founder Illia Polosukhin recently emphasized that the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing the landscape of blockchain security. According to The Block, Polosukhin warned that AI-assisted hacking techniques are now outpacing traditional manual code reviews. This shift creates a significant vulnerability for decentralized networks that rely on human-led auditing processes.

As AI tools become more accessible to malicious actors, the speed at which exploits are discovered and deployed has increased dramatically. Polosukhin noted that the current reliance on human auditors is insufficient to keep pace with these automated threats. Consequently, the industry must pivot toward more robust, machine-verified security frameworks to protect user assets.

The Shift to Formal Verification

To counter these sophisticated threats, Polosukhin advocates for the widespread adoption of formal verification. This process involves using mathematical proofs to ensure that smart contract code behaves exactly as intended, removing the ambiguity that often leads to security breaches. By integrating these proofs into the development lifecycle, developers can identify flaws that traditional testing might miss.

Formal verification is not a new concept, but it has historically been resource-intensive and difficult to scale. However, the NEAR co-founder suggests that the same AI technology fueling cyberattacks could eventually be used to automate these mathematical proofs. This would allow for a more proactive defense strategy, where code is verified for correctness before it is ever deployed to a mainnet.

Implications for Blockchain Infrastructure

The vulnerability of smart contracts remains one of the primary obstacles to mainstream blockchain adoption. When code is compromised, the resulting loss of funds often leads to a loss of user trust that can take years to recover. If the industry fails to adapt its security standards, developers may struggle to build complex financial applications that require high levels of reliability.

Polosukhin believes that the future of secure blockchain development lies in the intersection of AI and formal methods. By creating environments where code is inherently resistant to common attack vectors, the ecosystem can move toward a more stable and secure foundation. This evolution is essential for maintaining the integrity of decentralized finance and other blockchain-based services.

The Pakistan Perspective

For Pakistani crypto holders and developers, this shift underscores the importance of due diligence when interacting with decentralized finance protocols. While local investors often focus on price volatility, the underlying security of the platforms they use is equally critical. As malicious actors utilize more advanced tools, the risk of interacting with unaudited or poorly secured smart contracts increases for everyone.

Pakistani developers entering the Web3 space should prioritize learning formal verification tools, as this skill set is becoming increasingly valuable in the global market. Furthermore, users should be cautious of platforms that lack transparent security audits, as the threat of AI-assisted exploits is global and does not discriminate based on geography. Relying on reputable, well-audited exchanges or protocols remains the best defense for local retail participants against the rising tide of automated cyber threats.

Pakistani crypto users should prioritize platforms that emphasize formal code verification to protect their assets from increasingly sophisticated AI-driven cyber threats.