In late February, Eastern 8 Time, the security research institution disclosed the PromptSpy malware, which binds AI, large models, and traditional Android trojans together, launching attacks on user assets through advanced phishing and remote control. At the same time, Tether continually increased its physical gold holdings and launched products anchored to gold, quickly heating up the topic of gold-related assets in the cryptocurrency circle. On one side, there is an exponential increase in AI-driven attack capabilities; on the other, funds are moving back and forth between tech stocks, AI concepts, and gold-related assets, forming a contradictory tension of "AI siphoning liquidity" and "funds flowing into gold for hedging"—this also constitutes the main thread running through this article.
AI Hijacked by Hackers: The Remote Control Experiment Zone of PromptSpy
● Single-source attack paths: According to a single security research source, PromptSpy silently deploys a remote control module similar to VNC on victim devices by abusing the Android system's Accessibility Services. After obtaining permissions, attackers can simulate clicks, swipes, and other operations in the background, equivalent to "taking over" the entire phone to perform high-risk actions such as transferring money, changing passwords, and reading SMS verification codes, making this chain of actions more concealed and efficient than traditional trojans that require multiple user confirmations.
● Single-source command chain of Gemini API: The same source pointed out that PromptSpy integrates Google Gemini API on the control end to receive or generate real-time operational commands. Attackers issue prompts or strategies through the cloud, with Gemini providing the next steps or operational suggestions, then mapping these to specific remote actions on the victim's phone. This "cloud decision-making—local execution" model enables the malware to dynamically adjust and fine-tune behaviors according to scenarios, breaking through the old paradigm where traditional botnets dependent on fixed scripts.
● Disguised banking sites and early large-scale use of AI as a single source: Research also shows that PromptSpy distributes APK installation packages through disguised banking websites, luring users to bypass official app stores and install the infected app unknowingly. Since this behavior is considered one of the early large-scale cases of malware leveraging Gemini AI, its significance in the security community has exceeded individual cases of specific banks or regions, instead highlighting that once large general models are integrated into the gray industrial chain, their attack decision-making layer will quickly become "intelligent."
From Phishing SMS to AI Remote Control: A Leap in Attack Efficiency
● Differences in decision-making speed: Traditional trojans often rely on preset scripts and simple rule engines; once the environment deviates from expectations (such as interface updates or button positioning changes), the attack process can easily stall. AI-powered malware allows the model to understand interface elements, text prompts, and system feedback in real-time, adjusting strategies in almost millisecond cycles. This difference in decision-making speed and adaptability has upgraded the attack from "mechanical execution" to "autonomous driving with environmental awareness."
● Social engineering strategies and script generation: The natural language generation capability of large models enables attacks like PromptSpy to generate phishing scripts and operational guidance in real-time according to users' language habits, cultural contexts, and current conversational contexts. For example, during the stages of obtaining verification codes, authorization confirmations, and KYC information, the model can create seemingly credible explanations and instructions targeting users' hesitations or doubts, significantly raising the success rate of phishing, although this improvement currently lacks quantifiable public data support.
● Geographical targeting and local disguise risks (including unverified information): PromptSpy has been pointed out as targeting users in specific regions, enhancing deception through disguised local banking webpages or app interfaces. Some security discussions mention its possible high relevance to users in a certain South American country, but details about whether Argentina and other specific regions are major targets remain unverified. The confirmed risk lies in that once attackers combine signals such as IP, language, and system regional settings to implement geographic targeting attacks, and overlay localized bank interface disguises, ordinary users can hardly discern authenticity at the visual level.
AI Siphoning Liquidity: The Noise Reduction and Leverage of the Crypto Market
● Fund diversion and AI surge: Primitive Ventures partner Dovey Wan stated, “AI is siphoning global liquidity,” pointing out that a large amount of funds are piling up in U.S. tech stocks, AI infrastructure, and related thematic ETFs. For crypto assets, part of the incremental funds from the traditional “tech high beta” narrative has been locked into the AI sector, resulting in the crypto circle entering a phase where prices remain relatively high after a significant previous surge, but new buying and risk appetite have noticeably slowed down, intensifying structural differentiation.
● Not at "silence," but already weak: Dovey Wan also indicated—“The crypto market has not yet entered a true ‘sense of silence’ stage,” meaning it is not completely without volume, but fluctuations and transactions have clearly diminished. On the price side, localized surges and dips still occur, but depth and continuity are insufficient; on the sentiment side, the frequency of on-chain narratives and hot topic rotations has decreased, and most mid- to small-cap coins lack compelling new fund drivers, creating a stark contrast between this "high-price weakness" state and the continued bloodsucking of the AI sector.
● Options expiration and sentiment leverage: In this context, approximately $8.8 billion in cryptocurrency options is about to expire, with call options dominating, becoming a key variable for market sentiment and leverage positions. If prices undergo a directional breakout before or after expiration, the accumulated gamma and forced liquidation chains may be ignited, causing short-term violent fluctuations. The concentration of options expiration structures makes the "seemingly quiet" market actually contain high leverage and asymmetric risks intertwined with the macro environment of funds flowing into AI, gold, and other sectors.
The Emergence of Digital Gold: Tether's Hedging Route
● 130 tons of gold and de-coupling considerations: According to public information, Tether has accumulated approximately 130 tons of gold reserves and has bound this portion of reserve assets to on-chain tokens through related products. One of its strategic intentions is to consciously reduce its asset-liability sheet's high binding to the cryptocurrency liquidity cycle after multiple rounds of crypto easing-tightening cycles, shifting some risk exposure into traditional commodities, and building a relatively independent value anchor for its U.S. dollar assets and other token products.
● The hedging logic of physically anchored tokens: Gold-linked tokens represented by Tether Gold (XAUt) attempt to combine the hedging attributes of traditional gold with the divisible and tradable characteristics on-chain by claiming that each token corresponds to a certain gram weight of physical gold. In times of increasing macro uncertainty and rising controversies regarding fiat currency credit, gold tokens can act as a hybrid good of "gold + crypto": on one hand, sharing the long-standing trust base of gold in central bank and institutional asset allocation; on the other hand, through on-chain transfers and DeFi combinations, compensating for the liquidity and settlement efficiency shortcomings of physical gold bars.
● Institutional preference for gold: Ivan Lee from QCP Group emphasized, “Gold remains a widely accepted reserve asset globally,” which has a decisive influence in institutional asset allocation discourse. For institutions seeking to hedge against inflation, currency depreciation, and geopolitical risks, gold-anchored assets are more likely to gain approval from risk control and compliance departments than purely crypto tokens. Tether’s choice to strengthen gold reserves and related token layouts at this moment partly bets that in the future, some institutions will prefer to hold on-chain products with traditional reserve asset lineage rather than being fully exposed to crypto cycles.
From Exchanges to Wallets: The Trust Gap of Gold Tokens
● The signal significance of HashKey and XAUt: In the compliance frontier of Hong Kong, HashKey Exchange has launched the XAUt product supported by physical gold, backing this move with its held local compliance license. This action releases multiple signals: first, the regulatory framework is beginning to accommodate on-chain products linked to gold; second, exchanges want to provide tools closer to traditional asset allocation logic for high-net-worth and institutional clients beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum; third, gold tokens are gradually moving from "niche on-chain experiments" to becoming "an asset class recognized by compliance institutions."
● Trust distribution and regulatory gray areas: There are significant trust distribution issues among exchanges, custodians, and individual self-custody regarding gold tokens. Users must trust that the token issuer has adequate physical gold custody, and also trust that the exchange or custodian will not misappropriate or experience compliance failures; even when choosing self-custody, they must face technical risks like private key management and address operation errors. Currently, regulation primarily focuses on issuance and transaction stages, and there exists a considerable gray area regarding how "on-chain gold" settles across jurisdictions and how to prioritize repayment in bankruptcy or custodial risk events.
● Endpoint security becomes the biggest shortcoming: Connecting the events of PromptSpy reveals that even if gold tokens are gradually becoming compliant at the issuance and transaction levels, personal endpoint security may still become the most vulnerable link in the entire value chain. AI-driven malware can bypass traditional web phishing to directly control phones or computers, performing "human-machine integrated" attacks on wallet apps, exchange logins, and multi-factor verifications. In the AI era, whether holding Bitcoin or XAUt, once endpoints are compromised, the so-called "secure asset allocation" will collapse in an instant, exposing the real risks of gold tokens layered over the AI wave: technological upgrades far outpace personal security capabilities.
AI Undercurrent and Gold Safe Haven: The New Asset Landscape of Crypto
AI, as a general technology, significantly enhances productivity in one aspect through large models and automated tools, while also being proven by cases like PromptSpy to exponentially amplify the efficiency of cyberattacks, introducing new systemic risks to crypto assets, gold tokens, and even traditional banking systems. As AI permeates every link of the attack chain, the traditional protective approach relying on "security education + antivirus software" is becoming increasingly inadequate to address the complex offensive and defensive games that may arise in the coming years, imposing higher barriers on personal users' and institutions' wallet, key management, and endpoint security.
Under the market structure affected by both the "AI siphoning liquidity" phenomenon and macro uncertainties, the migration of funds towards gold and gold-anchored on-chain assets is becoming a noteworthy medium-term trend. On one hand, tech stocks and the AI sector attract risk appetite funds in the stock market; on the other, funds seeking hedges and value storage look for new anchors through physical gold, gold ETFs, and tokens like Tether Gold and XAUt. The traditional gold and gold tokens form a complementary pattern of offline reserves and online circulation, reflecting a subtle restructuring of asset allocation logic among institutions and high-net-worth groups.
For investors, embracing the efficiency dividends brought by AI and the hedging narrative of gold-related assets requires simultaneously upgrading endpoint security and overall risk management thinking. Specifically, first, consider mobile phones and computers as "vault entrances," maintaining high restraint on system permissions, application installation sources, and accessibility function authorizations; second, for substantial assets, attempt to adopt multi-signature, hardware wallet designs that emphasize "physical isolation + procedural layering"; third, when choosing gold tokens, custodians, and exchanges, evaluate not only returns and liquidity but also their trustworthiness in compliance, safety, and emergency handling. In the new landscape intertwined with AI undercurrents and gold safe havens, those who can first complete the mindset shift from “what to invest in” to “how to protect” are likely to truly hold the proactive power in the next round of cycles.
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