Each month, MetaMask Security Director Luker reports on the latest crypto attacks and emerging risks that you need to know about.
June 2026 marked a major step forward for autonomous blockchain activity. MetaMask launched its security-first agentic wallet, bringing guardrails to AI-driven DeFi transactions. On the defense side, MetaMask shipped live address poisoning detection—a direct response to the 65.4 million poisoning attacks Blockaid flagged since January 2025, and deepened its partnership with Consensys Diligence through the AI-augmented Chonky security auditing system. Meanwhile, threats continued to evolve: Microsoft identified a new self-propagating crypto clipper malware spreading via USB drives, and fake crypto recovery services continued to prey on theft victims. Dive into the details below, but first...
Featured STEM pioneer: Brewster Kahle, Internet Archive founder and Internet Hall of Fame inductee
Brewster Kahle led the development of the Connection Machine, contributed significantly to the WAIS precursor to the World Wide Web, founded the Internet Archive and Wayback Machine, and has been inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame.
MetaMask launches security-first agentic wallet with Guard Mode and Beast Mode for autonomous DeFi AI
As we venture into the new world of autonomous DeFi AI, MetaMask has launched Agent Wallet early access program—a new, self-custodial wallet built for agents, complete with guardrails. Agents can now access swaps, perpetual futures, prediction markets, and liquidity provisioning across Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks.
Supported EVM transactions pass through a three-step pipeline:
1. Transaction simulation
2. Transaction Shield threat scanning, powered by Blockaid
3. MEV protection.
Malicious transactions are auto-rejected, and edge cases are flagged to the user for human approval. Users can choose between the more cautious Guard Mode, which enforces spending limits, protocol allowlists, and approval requirements, or the streamlined Beast Mode, which reduces prompts but still warns against potentially dangerous transactions.
As Consensys CEO Joe Lubin put it: "The next great expansion of the blockchain economy won't be driven by humans alone. Machine intelligences will increasingly transact, coordinate, and verify one another on crypto rails because crypto protocols are uniquely well designed for autonomous actors."
How MetaMask detects address poisoning scams after Blockaid flags 65.4 million attacks since January 2025
Address poisoning is a sneaky attack in which a scammer sends a very small transaction from a wallet address that has been purposefully made to look identical to an address the target has interacted with before. The attack is successful if the target copies the malicious address from their transaction history and inadvertently sends funds to the attacker. MetaMask’s partner Blockaid flagged 65.4 million address poisoning attacks since January 2025.
MetaMask Address Poisoning Detection now compares every new address you paste with addresses you've interacted with before, requiring you to double check for imposters. One reason this attack has been so prolific is the industry standard of showing a heavily truncated address to save space. MetaMask shows more of that address to give you better visibility and reduce the obfuscation threat actors hide behind. Learn the ways MetaMask protects from address poisoning without sacrificing user control.
What is Chonky: Consensys Diligence launches AI-powered smart contract auditing trained on 100,000+ ecosystem vulnerability findings
The smart contract auditing experts at Consensys Diligence have been long-standing friends of the fox. Diligence's team played a critical role in securing efforts such as MetaMask EIP-7715, MetaMask USD, and MetaMask Snaps. Now, their AI-augmented auditing methodology, delightfully named Chonky, brings our partnership to the next level. Powered by over 100,000 past vulnerability findings across Ethereum's ecosystem, the language-agnostic Chonky can surface MetaMask-specific vulnerabilities that a generic tool would miss. Explore how Chonky combines wide AI-driven scans and targeted deep-dives paired with expert human oversight to keep the system honest.
How fake crypto recovery services scam theft victims a second time with guaranteed results
Fake crypto recovery services aren't a new form of attack, but awareness matters: sometimes the scam doesn't end when the theft does. Crypto theft victims are increasingly targeted a second time by fake recovery services that guarantee results and quick turnarounds. Legitimate recovery firms do exist, but they work through patient blockchain forensics, and never promise return of funds with certainty. Many also have minimum loss requirements.
Microsoft identifies crypto clipper malware spreading via USB drives
A crypto clipper intercepts your copy/paste of an intended address or Secret Recovery Phrase, replacing it with one the attacker controls. Microsoft has identified a new version of this malware, Trojan:Win32/CryptoBandits.A, that has been self-propagating via USB drives since at least February 2026. What sets this trojan apart is that instead of using a traditional installer or exposed IP-based infrastructure, it routes all communication through a portable Tor client over a local SOCKS5 proxy, blending data theft with remote code execution—what Microsoft describes as a "lightweight backdoor." Always double-check the address you're sending to. Other defense strategies include disabling AutoPlay for removable media and blocking .lnk execution from USBs. Microsoft shared a flow chart explaining how the scam works.
Tales of caution: afiUSD $480K exploit, SecondFi drains Cardano wallets, credential-stealing malware wave, and more
Incidents and exploits
afiUSD vault suffers $480K Exploit amid June security incidents
DeFi protocol Fluid loses over $213,000 in crypto due to backend compromise
Aztec private rollup bridge hit again as attackers drain $2.2 million
Ethereum layer-2 Taiko warns users to withdraw bridge funds after security breach
SecondFi Exploit Drains Cardano Wallets, Losses May Top $20M
Stake DAO releases postmortem of vsdCRV incident. MetaMask is sorry that it happened but glad we could help!
Credential stealing
Fake BlueWallet steals passwords, accounts, and crypto from Macs
Reaper macOS Infostealer Abuses Script Editor to Steal Crypto and Passwords
Google Sues Chinese Crime Group for Allegedly Using Gemini AI for Mass Phishing Scams
Google Sues Chinese Crime Group for Allegedly Using Gemini AI for Mass Phishing Scams
New Rokarolla Android Trojan Targets 217 Banking and Crypto Apps
Anime Girls Could Steal Your Crypto as Wallpaper Malware Targets Steam Gamers
World Cup Coin app-themed phishing kit targets secret recovery phrases and private keys
MetaMask's June 2026 Crypto Security Report covered the launch of its security-first agentic wallet for AI-driven DeFi, live address poisoning detection, the AI-augmented Chonky auditing methodology from Consensys Diligence, fake recovery service scams, and CryptoBandits malware spreading via USB drives.
Browse previous editions of the MetaMask Crypto Security Report for more threats, trends, and tips for staying safe across the ecosystem.
