AI Trading Agent Vulnerability 2026: How a $45M Crypto Security Breach Exposed Protocol Risks - KuCoin

Autonomous AI trading agents in 2026 were compromised by protocol-level vulnerabilities such as memory poisoning and indirect prompt injection, targeting their long-term memory and execution protocols like the Model Context Protocol (MCP). These flaws facilitated over $45 million in crypto security breaches, including a $40 million drain from Step Finance amplified by excessive agent permissions.