Digital asset users are no longer crypto-only. They hold tokenized stocks, trade CFDs, stake assets, and move between platforms within a single investment session. That diversification is a sign of a maturing market. Yet it has also handed attackers a larger and more complex surface to work with.
Bitget Research, the analytical arm of the global exchange Bitget, tracks how that shift reshapes fraud. According to its latest report, the share of active users trading across two or more asset classes grew from under 1% in mid-2025 to more than 10% by May 2026. Fraud operations noticed. As users spread across more platforms and product categories, attackers began designing campaigns around that behavior rather than targeting a single point of entry.
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The attack surface grew before security frameworks did
Traditional attacks focused on a single target. A phishing email would steal credentials, a malicious contract would drain a wallet, or a fake URL would mimic a legitimate service. Today's campaigns, by contrast, are built around the entire user journey.
According to SlowMist, attackers now guide victims through a sequence of interactions. These span social media, messaging applications, investment communities, and wallet activity before any funds move. A user who spots one point of deception may still be exposed at another.
Recognizing a suspicious message on Telegram does not help when the same operation runs elsewhere. It may run fake customer support on Discord, counterfeit bridge interfaces on the web, and a fabricated trading community populated by AI-generated identities. Defense at a single point is no longer enough.
Artificial intelligence changed the economics of deception
The cost of running a sophisticated fraud campaign has dropped. Artificial intelligence is the primary reason. Deepfake video, for instance, lets attackers impersonate public officials and financial personalities, and the results are convincing enough to fool people who would otherwise catch a fraudulent message.
Two cases stand out. One impersonated Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in a deepfake investment scam. Another, an AI-generated advertising campaign, reportedly defrauded thousands of Swedish investors.
The more structurally significant development, however, is the rise of synthetic investment communities. In one operation analyzed by SlowMist, attackers deployed roughly 90 fabricated investor identities within a single campaign. Victims believed they were interacting with a community of experienced traders sharing real results. Social proof, once expensive to manufacture, had become a scalable product.
The challenge the industry has not fully priced in
The numbers underline the scale. Global crypto security incidents caused losses exceeding USD 4.70 billion in 2025, a 63% increase over the prior year. Cross-chain bridge vulnerabilities accounted for 39% of losses. Smart contract flaws followed at 25%, while private key leakage or social engineering made up 20%.
The task ahead is not simply detecting more threats. Instead, it is building frameworks that can protect users across a financial ecosystem where assets, platforms, and communication channels overlap. Speed matters too. Attackers frequently move stolen assets within minutes of a successful theft.
Effective intervention therefore depends on how quickly information moves between exchanges, security researchers, and law enforcement. The recovery window closes fast.
Fraud exploits psychology before technology
The pattern across the cases in this report is consistent. Successful fraud is designed to exploit psychology before it ever touches technology. It runs on urgency, social proof, and manufactured trust. Those are precisely the conditions under which people make decisions they would otherwise reject.
Staying ahead requires the same pace of investment the industry already applies to financial products, spanning education, detection, and cross-industry collaboration. Ultimately, as digital finance broadens across asset classes, security has to broaden with it.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal, or financial advice, nor an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any financial instruments or digital assets to any specific jurisdictions. Any views expressed are based on current market observations and are subject to change. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Digital assets are volatile and may not be suitable for all investors. Readers should conduct their own independent research and seek professional advice before making any investment decisions. Restrictions may apply.
