Key facts
- The EU proposed banning 11 crypto platforms as part of its 21st sanctions package against Russia.
- The sanctions aim to prevent sanctioned individuals and entities from circumventing EU measures.
- Anthropic's Claude Mythos AI model has raised concerns about its potential misuse for smart contract exploits.
- Unverified DeFi smart contracts have been linked to over $36.7 million in losses from four exploits since January.
The European Union is advancing its sanctions campaign against Russia by proposing to ban transactions on 11 crypto platforms as part of its 21st sanctions package. Kaja Kallas, vice president of the European Commission, stated that these measures aim to prevent sanctioned Russian individuals and entities from circumventing EU restrictions.
In parallel, the release of Anthropic's Claude Mythos AI model has sparked debate within the crypto community. While the model has demonstrated an ability to uncover vulnerabilities, some users fear it could be misused to exploit smart contracts. However, figures like Curve Finance co-founder Michael Egorov believe the threat is likely overstated due to differences in coding languages and security protocols.
Compounding security concerns, Chainalysis reported that unverified smart contracts have been linked to at least $36.7 million in losses across four decentralized finance (DeFi) exploits since January. Attackers are increasingly targeting protocols with unverified source code, which limits scrutiny from security researchers and excludes them from bug bounty programs. Advances in AI and decompilation tools are reportedly aiding attackers in identifying vulnerabilities in these contracts.