Crypto complacency: The hidden security threats at industry conferences

By Nick Percoco, Kraken Chief Security Officer

Each year, crypto conferences are growing larger and becoming more global. From New York to Dubai to Singapore, there are in-person opportunities to engage with peers across the crypto community. These gatherings are one sign that crypto has reached an inflection point in mainstream adoption. 

But with that growth, a quiet but troubling trend has also emerged: Personal security hygiene at crypto conferences has taken a back seat. This trend surfaced before the recent high-profile crypto kidnappings. Unfortunately, the crypto community has grown emboldened to publicly display and openly discuss crypto topics — even wealth and high-value trades — in public settings.  

Crypto, at its core, is about being your own bank. And it is incredibly difficult (if not impossible) to achieve the promise of financial freedom if your personal security and operational security (op-sec) aren’t prioritized above all else. 

Kraken’s dedicated security team has been monitoring this trend while attending industry conferences. Here’s what they’re seeing, and what every attendee needs to keep in mind:

Basic situational awareness is often ignored

While walking around networking events and expo areas, our teams have identified unmanned laptops owned by popular crypto protocols left open and unlocked on work settings. Likewise, they’ve highlighted many instances of phones unguarded on tables, even as wallet notifications ping in real time.

If you’re in crypto, your digital device is not just a phone or a laptop. It’s a vault to you, your cryptoassets and your broader employer’s operation. Always keep your devices in close proximity and locked when you are not using them. 

Openly broadcasting wealth and high-value trades

One of our team members walked out of their hotel room one evening, several miles from a conference venue, and encountered several attendees discussing high-value trades while wearing lanyards from the conference that included their name and company.

Even if you don’t think anyone’s listening, someone very well might be. Be discreet to protect yourself and those around you.

Public spaces are not secure

Just like you wouldn’t blindly trust WiFi at a busy coffee shop, you should be even more cautious at crypto conferences. Public networks can be easily spoofed or compromised, and crypto events are full of highly technical individuals, including those with hacking skills. It only takes one bad actor to exploit an unprotected connection. 

Think twice before scanning QR codes

They’re everywhere at crypto events, from giveaways to product demos, but each scan could expose your wallet to malicious smart contracts designed to drain your wallet. It only takes a single sticker swap for a bad actor to replace a legitimate QR code on a marketing material with a fake one, putting dozens (if not hundreds) of attendees at risk.

While we haven’t seen recent reports of this in the wild, the risk remains real. A safer approach is to use a burner wallet with limited funds specifically for conference activities. That way, if something goes wrong, your primary holdings remain protected.

Be careful who you trust, and what you reveal

Not everyone in a conference t-shirt is who they say they are. It is very easy to build cover stories, and register under fake personas, while at events. We always recommend verifying identities and limiting sensitive conversations to secure channels, or as follow-ups after in-person events. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

But that’s not all. Our team is acutely aware of less obvious, but equally serious, risks associated with attending events. Always keep a close watch on your food and drinks; tampering, though rare, is a real threat, especially in high-stakes environments.

Similarly, device compromise is easier than most realize. One common tactic is juice jacking, where malicious USB charging stations are used to install malware or steal data. Our recommendation is simple: Always use your own wall adapter and charging cable. If that means a quick trip back to your hotel room, it’s a small price to pay for keeping your digital assets safe.

As crypto continues to grow and mature, our approach to security must remain uncompromising

The more visible and mainstream our industry becomes, the more attractive we are to bad actors, and the easier it is for complacency to undermine progress. It’s time to get back to basics. In today’s high-stakes environment, crypto complacency isn’t just a personal risk, it’s a threat to our broader movement.