Binance: AI blocked $10.53B in fraud, protected 5.4M users

Binance reported its AI defenses prevented $10.53 billion in attempted fraud and protected 5.4 million users from early 2025 through the first quarter of 2026. The exchange uses more than 100 machine learning models across 24 security programs to detect and block scams and phishing campaigns.

In the first quarter of 2026, the AI risk control system intervened in 22.9 million scam and phishing attacks, safeguarding about $1.98 billion in user funds. About 57% of fraud detection is now handled by AI; the platform’s phishing success rate fell from 3.2% to 0.4%, and exposure to illicit funds declined by 96%. Binance has blacklisted more than 36,000 malicious on-chain addresses since the programs began.

Binance Research estimated AI-powered exploits cost roughly $1.22 per smart contract and projected that cost to fall about 22% every two months. Tests on EVMbench showed advanced exploit models reached a 72.2% success rate, while detection models operated at roughly half that rate.

The company cited wider figures showing the scale of the threat: crypto accounted for 88% of detected deepfake fraud cases globally, deepfake-related losses in North America exceeded $410 million in the first half of 2025, and overall crypto-related fraud totaled an estimated $17 billion in 2025, up 30% from the prior year. Binance reported AI-enabled scams were about 4.5 times more profitable than traditional schemes and impersonation tactics rose 1,400% year-on-year in 2025.

Centralized exchanges have increased defenses, but decentralized finance remains a major target. Richard Teng noted DeFi hacks in April 2026 totaled $621 million, the highest monthly figure since March 2022, with roughly $609 million tied to DeFi projects across 28 incidents. About 66% of those April attacks resulted from compromised access controls; social engineering and DNS attacks were the dominant tactics.

Binance said its work includes recovery and compliance as well as detection. In 2025 the exchange assisted in recovering about $12.8 million for users and helped law enforcement freeze roughly $131 million in stolen assets. Binance Bahrain renewed ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27701 certifications after an audit by A-LIGN.

Richard Teng described the company’s long-term aim as a “super financial app” and a multi-asset gateway for 3 billion users worldwide.

The firm reported its AI programs reduced credit card fraud on the platform to levels 60% to 70% below the industry average and said it pairs real-time AI detection with automated blocking and cooperation with law enforcement to limit losses and recover funds when breaches occur.