The Solana Foundation has a new head of security. Michael Coates, named chief information security officer this week, is warning that artificial intelligence is making crypto scams more convincing — not through a flaw in the blockchain, but through the people who use it. Coates points to social engineering, phishing and voice-based impersonation as the attack paths AI is supercharging.
Why AI changes the game
AI lets scammers produce more realistic messages, voices and identities, and turn up the pressure. A phishing email that once looked off now reads like a real exchange notice. A phone call can sound like a co-founder. Coates argues that deception is now cheaper and more scalable, which raises the security bar for everyone.
In crypto, a mistake is hard to undo. There's no chargeback, no password reset, no central authority to reverse a transaction. That makes social engineering a high-impact vector: it exploits human error instead of technical flaws.
Users and teams are both in the crosshairs
Ordinary users face fake mints, fake airdrops, malicious token approvals, impersonation accounts and wallet-draining sites. But the teams behind projects are also being targeted — through fake vendors, investors, journalists, applicants, even internal colleagues. Voice deepfakes have been used to trick staff into thinking they're on the phone with an executive, bypassing normal checks because the call feels urgent.
Coates says teams need procedures to handle that: out-of-band verification, multisig discipline, hardware keys, access controls and strict treasury processes.
Security by default, not by user vigilance
His broader point is that systems should be secure by default, so users aren't left to fend for themselves. Wallets can make risky approvals clearer, apps can reduce blind signing, protocols can limit permissions, exchanges can improve withdrawal controls, and teams can use internal verification steps. Better design can absorb some of the burden that currently falls on the user.
Solana's ecosystem — consumer apps, DeFi, meme coin trading, NFTs, payments, mobile tools — makes user-facing security particularly important, he said. But the warning applies to every crypto ecosystem, not just Solana.
The next wave won't look fake
Coates's core message: assume scams will look increasingly professional. The old advice — "be careful" — isn't enough. AI makes existing fraud more efficient by letting scammers test messages faster, personalise attacks, generate realistic content and operate at larger scale. The next wave of crypto scams may not look obviously fake at all.
