AI Fuels Crypto Scam Growth; Binance Blocks $1.98B

Exchanges and fraudsters are using artificial intelligence on opposing sides of crypto security in 2026. Binance reported that in the first quarter of 2026 it blocked 22.9 million scam attempts and protected about $1.98 billion in user funds.

Binance reported it has deployed more than 100 AI models and launched 24 dedicated anti-fraud initiatives. The exchange said that from the start of 2025 through Q1 2026 it prevented $10.53 billion in potential losses for more than 5.4 million users, blacklisted over 36,000 malicious addresses and issued roughly 9,600 real-time warnings per day. Binance reported AI now handles 57% of its fraud decisioning and that card fraud rates declined 60% to 70% compared with industry benchmarks.

Research from Binance Research found that AI attack tools exploit smart contracts about twice as efficiently as they detect vulnerabilities. The research reported advanced models succeeded 72.2% of the time and that the reported cost to run an attack can be as little as $1.22 per contract, a 22% month-on-month drop.

Chainalysis reported that fraudsters are using deepfakes, face-swap tools and large language models to scale romance and investment scams. The firm found AI-driven operations now earn an average of $3.2 million each, about 4.5 times the haul from traditional crypto scams. Chainalysis reported that 76% of AI-driven scams fall in the highest quartile for both scale and severity and that crypto-related fraud totaled $17 billion in 2025, a 30% increase from 2024.

Exchanges and crypto firms are investing in model development, automated threat detection and real-time transaction monitoring to reduce losses. Industry participants have called for stronger controls and more information-sharing between firms to improve detection across platforms.

Binance Research noted: “The barrier to entry for scam perpetrators is falling fast, with AI accelerating the drop. What once required technical expertise can now be executed for next to nothing and at scale.” Chainalysis wrote: “Today, 76% of AI-driven scams fall within the highest quartile for both scale and severity, and in 2025 alone, crypto-related fraud reached $17 billion — a 30% year-on-year increase.”

Publicly reported figures show rising measures of both AI-enabled fraud activity and the volume of prevention actions claimed by exchanges.