Avalanche founder warns: AI may expose security vulnerabilities in XRP Ledger before cryptography is

Avalanche founder warns: AI may have discovered security vulnerabilities in XRP Ledger before cryptographic breakthroughs.

Avalanche founder Emin Gün Sirer warned that artificial intelligence (AI) may soon be able to identify and exploit undiscovered security vulnerabilities in XRP Ledger, raising new concerns about blockchain security. Sirer is a well-respected computer scientist and entrepreneur known for his work on decentralized systems and consensus protocols. He believes that AI-driven attacks may pose a greater threat to blockchain software than concerns about new breakthroughs in cryptography.

AI-driven vulnerabilities come into focus

Sirer pointed out that the cryptocurrency industry is currently focusing too much on advances in cryptography while ignoring a more pressing risk: the possibility that modern AI models can detect and exploit errors in critical software. He believes that these vulnerabilities may be missed by human censors, but will be discovered by increasingly complex AI systems.

Sirer expressed his view on social media platform X: "Before ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm) is eliminated, we will see AI exploiting system-level vulnerabilities." He added that flaws could be hidden in blockchain software, related libraries and crypto-wallets that could cause billions of dollars in losses if malicious actors use AI tools to discover and exploit them.

"If you believe that Ripple's code (or any other high-value, low-usage chain) does not have those zero-day bugs that are difficult to detect by humans but easy to detect by AI, you are a misguided person," Sirer said.

The so-called "zero-day vulnerability" refers to a security vulnerability unknown to the software creator and unpatched, which provides an attacker with a window to invade the system.

Despite the warning, Sirer did not disclose any specific unresolved vulnerabilities in XRP Ledger or provide evidence of AI-enabled attacks. His remarks came as XRP Ledger faced more scrutiny. XRP Ledger is an open-source blockchain launched by software engineers David Schwartz, Arthur Britto and Jed McCaleb. After deploying emergency software patches on September 25, its security has received widespread attention.

Noun explanation: XRP Ledger is a decentralized public blockchain focused on fast, low-cost payments and maintained by a global developer community. Its code base is frequently updated to address performance or security issues, and Ripple Labs is a key player in its ecosystem.

XRP Ledger Emergency Updates and Industry Response

The latest XRP Ledger update is to address a critical security issue. Although developers did not initially disclose the source code of these security fixes, they promised to release the source code later, with a technical review report outlining the vulnerabilities and the patching process.

Tensions between Ripple and Sirer have publicly escalated. Previously, Sirer sharply criticized Ripple's way of working with banking institutions, and Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse responded.

AI and Cryptography: Debate among Top Blockchain Leaders

Industry leaders disagree on the possibility and impact of AI discovering vulnerabilities in cryptographic protocols. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently warned that AI-assisted mathematical discovery could launch attacks on the assumptions behind lattice-based cryptography within two years.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson rejected Buterin's prediction, calling it speculative and lacking support from available mathematical evidence. At the same time, Ethereum researcher Justin Drake expressed caution about AI's ability to eventually crack ECDSA, an important standard used to sign cryptocurrency transactions.

Sirer agrees that this cryptographic risk cannot be completely ignored, but he recommends that the cryptocurrency community should focus on addressing current software security threats. He emphasized that loopholes in the real world may be more urgent than hypothetical cryptographic breakthroughs. Sirer believes that ignoring the risk of AI exposing software vulnerabilities could lead to huge financial losses before cryptographic defenses become obsolete.