Cryptocurrency wallet providers are getting more sophisticated, but so are bad actors — which means the battle between security and threats is at a deadlock, says a hardware wallet firm executive.

“It will always be a cat and mouse game,” Ledger chief experience officer Ian Rogers told Cointelegraph when describing the constant race between crypto wallet firms adding new security features and hackers finding more advanced ways to access victims’ wallets.

Rogers said, unfortunately, the most straightforward scams work best because scammers rely on people making simple mistakes.

“People give their 24-word phrases to people every day, so as long as that happens, then they are going to go for the low-cost tax,” he said, adding:

“Anyone who asks for your 24 words is a criminal.”

Rogers highlighted a common crypto scam where victims get tricked by replies under “any post on Twitter about crypto,” with messages like “DM me, and I’ll help you.”

“You know that scammers are always asking you for your 24 words,” Rogers said. CertiK chief business officer Jason Jiang recently told Cointelegraph that being aware of phishing attacks on social media can drastically increase a user’s crypto security.

Sometimes, scammers hijack the accounts of well-known industry figures to post malicious links, making it even harder for users to spot the scam.

In September 2023, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s account was compromised, leading to a fake NFT giveaway that tricked followers into clicking — only to drain over $691,000 from their wallets.

Rogers emphasized that this will always be the case, just as bad actors aren’t limited to crypto — scams like fake emails from the “Nigerian president” have been around for years.

“The cost of the attack is always commensurate with the size of the prize, right?” Rogers said. In 2024, crypto hacks jumped 15% from 2023, with over $3 billion stolen.

Related: Hacker steals $8.4M from RWA restaking protocol Zoth

Meanwhile, pig butchering scams have emerged as one of the most pervasive threats to crypto investors, with losses on the Ethereum network costing the industry $5.5 billion across 200,000 identified cases in 2024.

Pig butchering is a type of phishing scheme that involves prolonged and complex manipulation tactics to trick investors into willingly sending their assets to fraudulent crypto addresses.

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Meta continues to integrate AI characters into its apps.

X has once again implemented restrictions at the behest of the Turkish government.

Meta announced a range of ad updates and refinements.

Venture capital firm Haun Ventures is reportedly looking to raise $1 billion for two new crypto-related investment funds within the next three months.

If successful, $500 million will be allocated to early-stage crypto investments, while the remaining $500 million will go toward late-stage crypto investments, people familiar with the matter told Fortune Crypto on March 21.

Different market conditions to 2022 led to lowered expectations

The VC firm, founded by former Coinbase board member and federal prosecutor Katie Haun in 2022, reportedly did not aim for the $1.5 billion it raised in its highly praised funding round in 2022. It cited different market conditions as the reason for the lower target.

However, Haun reportedly expects the two new funds will be “oversubscribed.” In March 2022, Haun secured $1.5 billion in the company’s first funding round, shortly after its launch. Haun had also recruited former executives from Airbnb, Coinbase and Google tech incubator Jigsaw.

The firm’s latest fundraising round is set to close in June and is expected to be one of the largest in crypto funding in the past two years. Venture capital firm Paradigm and digital asset investment manager Pantera Capital both sought similar amounts in 2024.

In June 2024, Paradigm closed an $850 million investment fund, while in April, digital asset investment manager Pantera Capital sought to raise over $1 billion for a new blockchain-focused fund.

VCs predict that stablecoins will continue to be a focus in 2025

More recently, Haun Ventures participated in crypto asset management firm Bitwise’s $70 million funding round alongside investors such as Electric Capital, MassMutual, MIT Investment Management Company, and Highland Capital.

While the specific focus of Haun’s upcoming crypto funds is not publicly known yet, other venture capitalists have recently predicted that stablecoin interest will continue into 2025.

Related: Venture capital firms invest $400M in TON blockchain

Deng Chao, CEO of institutional asset manager HashKey Capital, recently told Cointelegraph that stablecoins were the strongest proven use case for crypto in 2024.

Meanwhile, market analyst Infinity Hedge predicted that crypto VC investment in 2025 would surpass last year’s levels but wouldn’t approach the peak recorded during the 2021 bull market. VC crypto funding in 2021 reached $33.8 billion, while in 2024 it reached $13.6 billion.

Cointelegraph reached out to Haun Ventures but did not receive a response by time of publication.

Magazine: Dummies guide to native rollups: L2s as secure as Ethereum itself