In recent years, there has been an increased interest in blockchain and its potential in the world of traditional finance.
Financial institutions are considering the possibility of transferring trillions of dollars of assets on-chain, according to Ronghui Gu, CEO of blockchain security firm CertiK. The duration of this transition could be approximately 10 years, during which time tens of trillions of dollars are expected to move on distributed ledgers.
This outlook represents a real revolution for the financial sector, which could benefit from increased efficiency and transparency. However, the current operational reality is far more complex and risky than imagined, especially for the more conservative players in the financial industry.
Blockchain risks: Barriers for banks
Despite the enthusiasm, transferring assets to blockchain faces a series of significant obstacles. The main risks are those of hacking and exploitation, a threat that has increased with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) applied to cybercrime.
Ronghui Gu highlights how banks and financial institutions are being forced to deal with many risks, from automated AI attacks to smart contract vulnerabilities, oracle manipulation and cross-chain hacks that attack bridges between different blockchains. According to Gu, these risks are the main obstacles preventing traditional financial institutions from moving their assets on-chain at scale.
Expanding attack landscape
Educational institutions’ concerns are not unfounded. According to data collected by CertiK, the number of attacks continues to grow. April was the worst month in four years, with attacks occurring almost every day and only three days without an incident. According to Gu, this rapid increase was made possible precisely by hackers’ use of AI.
Among the most notable incidents in recent months are the attacks on Drift Protocol and Kelp Dao, two crypto lending pools targeted by North Korean cybercriminals. These two exploits resulted in the theft of nearly $600 million. Another important episode was the one that hit Bybit in February 2025, resulting in record losses of $1.46 billion, making it the largest attack ever recorded.
More than $1.1 billion has been lost to DeFi attacks in the past year, according to data from DefiLlama, highlighting how quickly vulnerabilities in cross-chain infrastructure can spread throughout the ecosystem.
An unfair game: Hackers’ resources and defenders’ limits
The main problem, according to Gu, is that the current system favors malicious actors. Hackers have virtually unlimited resources and are able to focus on protocols with large total value locks (TVLs), i.e., protocols that control the greatest amount of assets and therefore yield the greatest returns if successful.
A single attacker can invest $10,000 to $20,000 in compute tokens to keep an automated vulnerability scanning engine running nonstop for days or weeks. In contrast, protocol defense teams are constrained by limited budgets and must operate within the limits imposed by commercial contracts with their clients.
Gu explains that CertiK, which has 5,000 customers, must respect the budget set for each project and invest human and technical resources only within those limits. This creates a structural gap. While hackers can work without limits on time or resources, defenders often have to limit scanning and reviewing code to only a few hours.
The power of AI: Faster, more efficient attacks
With the introduction of artificial intelligence, exploits have become even faster and more efficient. Attacks have become almost daily, and the trend observed in April could continue until the end of the year. AI allows hackers to automate the search for vulnerabilities, making it increasingly difficult for human and technical defenses to keep up.
This scenario of permanent operational failure highlights the need for a fundamental change in the approach to blockchain security, especially if traditional finance is truly intended to transfer such high-value assets.
The future of blockchain between risks and opportunities
On-chain asset migration represents one of the financial sector’s greatest opportunities, but also one of its most complex challenges. While banks and financial institutions recognize the potential benefits of blockchain, they cannot ignore the increased risks associated with hacking and AI-powered exploits.
To overcome this dilemma, you need to invest in new security solutions that can bridge the gap between hackers’ and defenders’ resources. Only in this way will it be possible to turn blockchain into a truly secure and reliable tool for large-scale asset management.
As we wait for these developments, traditional finance is sitting on the sidelines, closely monitoring technological advances and the evolution of the sector, knowing that the stakes are very high and this is literally a multi-trillion dollar dilemma.
