threats

The co-founder of the crypto startup accelerator AllianceDAO, Wang Qiao, stated that he is not worried about the crypto community's ability to cope with future AI and quantum threats, asserting that within the next two years, the world will realize that compared to the internet and traditional finance, cryptocurrencies are much better prepared for this.He mentioned that for the past decade, the crypto market has been a trillion-dollar scale and irreversible honey pot, which is an extremely attractive target for attacks, creating a system that has been tested in real combat far more than almost anywhere else on Earth, as well as a confrontational security culture.

The security organization SlowMist has released an in-depth threat intelligence report on the DarkSword Trojan backend and iOS attack chain. The report tracks the evolution of this attack infrastructure and reveals its high danger to cryptocurrency asset users.According to SlowMist's analysis, after the relevant exploit code was made public in March 2026, DarkSword-PROV2 appeared on GitHub in July, and its attack infrastructure was observed to be operational by late September.The SlowMist team not only tracked its online infrastructure but also correlated its management panel with public GitHub repositories, dissecting the exploit code, delivery chain, and post-compromise capabilities. The report highlighted several key findings of this attack framework: a highly automated complete attack pipeline that integrates vulnerability delivery, device and data collection, data theft, and cryptocurrency wallet fund aggregation functions.The extensive and deep data theft capabilities of this toolkit target not only keychains, files, and information but also specifically cryptocurrency wallet data, with the ability to decrypt wallet data and aggregate funds. Although the toolkit claims to support iOS 13 and above, code analysis confirms that its actual effective exploit window is concentrated in the iOS 18.6--18.7.2 and iOS 26--26.1 version ranges. The publicly available vulnerability components have been weaponized and integrated into a deployable attack framework, significantly lowering the threshold for launching complex iOS attacks.In response to this threat, SlowMist has provided clear security recommendations. Users should keep their iOS systems updated and avoid clicking on untrusted links, as merely opening a malicious page in the Safari browser could trigger vulnerabilities. If a device has accessed suspicious landing pages, users should consider their mnemonic phrases and private keys as compromised and must create new wallets and transfer assets using a clean device that has never accessed that page.Additionally, users should thoroughly check for abnormal transactions and token authorizations across various chains and immediately revoke unnecessary authorizations.

Google announced a breakthrough in the field of quantum computing, stating that its Willow chip has overcome a critical resource bottleneck.Google stated that a technology called magic state cultivation is now running on the Willow chip, reducing errors by approximately 40 times and achieving an accuracy of 99.99%. This research was published in the journal Science, and Google also mentioned that it still needs to prove the effectiveness of this technology under large-scale conditions.

StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson published an article discussing the necessity of upgrading Starknet to L1 to address threats from the post-quantum era. He pointed out that quantum computing threats may be closer than expected, and the rapid development of AI could break existing security assumptions, necessitating that blockchain enters a "shelter mode" to quickly achieve future-proofing.Key elements include: adopting appropriate cryptographic technologies, having cryptographic flexibility, and becoming an independent L1. As L2, Starknet relies on Ethereum's security. Ethereum aims to achieve full quantum resistance by the end of 2029, while Bitcoin has yet to make such a commitment. If Starknet upgrades to L1, it could achieve this by 2027. This move would allow it to independently control security migration, becoming a quantum-resistant network for public or private transactions and asset holdings.

Indian refiners are seeking crude oil purchases for delivery in November. Due to the sanctions bill signed by the United States last week, India may reduce its crude oil purchases from Russia.As the world's third-largest crude oil buyer, India has imported more than half of its total imports from Russia.

According to Bloomberg, cryptocurrency hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger SAS announced the appointment of Oded Blatman as Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Security Officer (CSO), integrating internal technology systems and security functions under the same executive management.Blatman previously worked at the blockchain company Fireblocks and will be fully responsible for network and infrastructure security, product security, physical and workplace security, internal IT, and enterprise risk management.

According to Jinshi reports, Iranian state media cited sources as saying that as long as the United States continues to threaten Iran, the agreement with Oman regarding the Strait of Hormuz will be postponed.

Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue posted on the X platform in response to recent concerns about AI-driven cyberattacks. He pointed out that open models have helped defend against multiple attacks and that in the future, they could fend off millions of attacks daily, believing that AI will fundamentally strengthen cybersecurity.Delangue proposed three recommendations: mandatory sharing of traces from intelligent agent attacks and incident disclosure; keeping AI cyberattacks illegal and imposing severe penalties; and equipping defenders with open models to narrow the gap in offensive and defensive capabilities. He advocated for accelerating AI development rather than slowing it down at this stage.

According to Jinshi, the U.S. Department of Defense's emergency funding request of $67 billion for this fiscal year includes more than $10 billion for the purchase of "Patriot" missiles and the "THAAD" missile defense system. Among them, $5.75 billion is allocated for the procurement of "THAAD" missiles, and $5.57 billion for the additional purchase of "Patriot" missiles. In addition, the procurement list also includes $1.9 billion for "Standard-6" missiles and $1.3 billion for "Tomahawk" cruise missiles, as well as $692 million for the procurement of "precision strike missiles." With the U.S. military's operations in the Middle East, concerns have been raised about the status of weapon inventories.

According to The Block, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson stated that quantum computing could pose a significant challenge to Bitcoin's governance capabilities. If the Bitcoin network cannot coordinate the necessary upgrades, BTC may lose its status as the largest cryptocurrency asset globally.Hoskinson mentioned that the problem with Bitcoin is that it is "frozen in time," making any changes very difficult. He believes that the early disappointment with Bitcoin's lack of flexibility was one of the reasons that led to the birth of Ethereum.

The European Central Bank has requested banks to develop plans to address the growing cybersecurity threats posed by cutting-edge AI models such as Anthropic's Claude Mythos. In a letter to the chief executives of banks, the ECB's chief supervisory officer, Claudia Buch, asked lending institutions to submit action plans by the end of October.She urged banks to accelerate software patch updates, strengthen AI-driven cyber defenses, and enhance oversight of third-party vendors, while emphasizing that banks need to modernize their infrastructure in the long term. Buch stated, "The ECB calls on all significant institutions to immediately assess the impact of the evolving threat landscape and develop comprehensive action plans outlining specific measures to strengthen relevant controls." ECB President Christine Lagarde warned last month that artificial intelligence could lead to a financial crisis and stated that bank CEOs need to ensure they are prepared and recognize that countermeasures require substantial investment. The ECB has conducted cyber attack tests under severe scenarios on 109 banks, and most of the vulnerabilities identified have been addressed.

According to a report from Xinhua News Agency citing Iranian media on the 21st, the Iranian delegation has protested to the U.S. side regarding President Trump's recent verbal threats and is currently formulating an appropriate response plan.

Circle released a quantum security white paper, proposing a phased upgrade plan covering Arc, USDC, smart contracts, and the validator system to address potential security risks posed by future quantum computing.

According to FinanceFeeds, Alex Thorn, the research director of Galaxy Digital, stated that as advancements in quantum computing hardware accelerate, the Bitcoin community is shifting from decentralized debates to forming a preliminary consensus on quantum threats. The core direction is to gradually introduce post-quantum cryptography (PQC) through soft forks, achieving an upgrade of the address system and long-term security assurance.The report points out that the current Bitcoin signature mechanism, which uses the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm, can theoretically be cracked by Shor's algorithm. Approximately 2 million BTC from early p2pkh addresses are at risk because their public keys have been exposed, facing the potential risk of "collecting first and decrypting later." The community tends to promote a "migration window" mechanism to guide users in transferring their assets to new quantum-resistant addresses, and after a multi-year grace period, to implement freezing or destruction of untransferred assets to prevent large-scale market impacts in extreme situations. Additionally, the consensus includes enhancing "cryptographic agility," which allows protocols to switch signature algorithms without interrupting the network.The current proposal leans towards a dual-signature mechanism that uses ECDSA and PQC (such as Dilithium) in parallel, ensuring security redundancy while facilitating a smooth transition. Analysts believe that this approach transforms the quantum threat from a "black swan event" into a manageable technological upgrade, helping to solidify Bitcoin's security foundation as a long-term store of value asset.

Researcher Dan Robinson from Paradigm proposed a new scheme called PACT (Verifiable Address Controlled Timestamp), aimed at protecting long-dormant bitcoins, including Satoshi's early addresses, from future quantum computing attacks.This mechanism allows users to prove their control over an address through a timestamp without the need to transfer assets or expose on-chain behavior. Once future quantum attacks occur, assets can be recovered in a quantum-resistant version of the Bitcoin network based on that proof. Compared to mandatory migration schemes (like BIP-361), PACT avoids the privacy exposure issues caused by actively transferring assets, providing long-term holders with a more flexible preemptive protection path.

The Solana Foundation stated that its core development team Anza has reached an agreement with Firedancer, a subsidiary of Jump Crypto, on a potential post-quantum solution, planning to introduce a new digital signature scheme called Falcon.Although the threat of quantum computing is not expected to materialize for several years, Solana has developed a phased upgrade roadmap. This plan includes ongoing research into Falcon and other alternatives, introducing post-quantum solutions for new wallets when necessary, and ultimately completing the migration of existing wallets. Currently, the quantum-resistant primitive Winternitz Vault, developed by Blueshift, has been running on Solana for over two years. The Solana Foundation stated that the network's high-speed, low-latency design can accommodate such solutions, and the migration is not expected to have a significant impact on performance.

According to a report by AXIOS cited by Jinshi, senior U.S. officials stated that there have been no threats of Iranian attacks on vessels.

Former Google quantum hardware chief and 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics winner John Martinis warned that Bitcoin could become one of the first real targets for quantum computing attacks. He stated that recent research from Google shows that advanced quantum computers could derive Bitcoin private keys in a matter of minutes, significantly lowering the computational security barriers that the network currently relies on.Since Bitcoin relies on elliptic curve cryptography and the network upgrades slowly and is decentralized, this makes the quantum threat harder to address than in traditional financial systems. The public key exposure window when broadcasting Bitcoin transactions could be exploited by quantum computers to intercept funds before the transaction is finally confirmed. John Martinis emphasized that while building such quantum computers remains an extremely challenging engineering task, the community should not be complacent and should plan for quantum-resistant upgrades as soon as possible, anticipating that related threats will gradually emerge within 5 to 10 years.