Crypto news

The Bitcoin Policy Institute, together with dozens of leading players in the crypto industry, has issued an open appeal to the largest artificial intelligence laboratories. The core demand is to provide trusted open-source developers with reliable access to advanced AI models. Without this, according to the signatories, it is impossible to ensure the security of financial infrastructure managing trillions of dollars in assets.

The appeal has been signed by representatives of dozens of organizations from the digital asset, cybersecurity, and open-source development sectors. These include major custodians, payment services, and security firms whose businesses directly depend on the integrity of open infrastructure and libraries.

Infrastructure Defenders Are Left Without the Strongest Tools

The letter emphasizes that the need for such access has become evident over the past few weeks. Specialists protecting digital asset infrastructure and open-source software require the latest AI capabilities for thorough security verification. Without this, they find it difficult to counter increasingly sophisticated attackers.

Open source has long become financial infrastructure. According to the authors' estimates, the Bitcoin network alone safeguards over a trillion dollars, and across the entire digital asset ecosystem—from wallets, signing devices, cryptographic libraries, node software, custodial systems, exchanges, and payment networks—trillions of dollars depend on it. This infrastructure is openly developed by companies, non-profit organizations, independent researchers, and grant-funded maintainers.

Behind this software are the personal funds of millions of people. These are pension savings, business capital, reserve funds, and family wealth, so a single vulnerability can wipe out a lifetime of savings. Digital assets attract cyberattacks precisely for this reason.

Many cryptocurrencies are structured as bearer assets, so the path from a hack to losing money is short. Under such conditions, it is especially important to find and close vulnerabilities in advance, the authors of the appeal emphasize. Advanced AI, meanwhile, changes the economics for both security researchers and attackers.

Defenders Occupy the Least Privileged Position

Advanced models are capable of reviewing large codebases, identifying potential weaknesses, and accelerating complex technical work—for both defenders and attackers alike. The authors expect these capabilities to continue spreading through public open-source models, unauthorized access to corporate systems, and specialized tools for cyberattacks.

Today, leading laboratories and select partners see new cyber capabilities months before they reach the rest of the ecosystem. At the same time, access paths to such tools for qualified defenders remain limited and inconsistent. Many digital asset developers, including Bitcoin Core maintainers, are excluded from laboratory programs.

Restrictions on public frontier systems often block legitimate security work. As a result, defenders are forced to conduct critical checks on less powerful open-weight models. According to the letter's authors, developers occupy the most vulnerable position in the entire security framework surrounding AI.

The Bitcoin Policy Institute received several independent reports from open-source maintainers. According to them, sophisticated attackers, possibly from other countries, are conducting continuous AI-assisted attacks, and small teams struggle to keep up with such a pace.

Even when systems remain protected, responding to persistent and complex activity diverts scarce maintainer resources away from development and routine security work. Bitcoin developers and other security researchers are checking wallets, libraries, protocols, and open tools around the clock using available open-weight models, the authors add.

What the Coalition Asks of the Laboratories

Early access and reasonable compute budgets would help key developers create more secure code and find and fix vulnerabilities before losses occur. The coalition asks frontier AI laboratories to create or expand permanent trusted access programs for qualified defenders of open financial infrastructure.

Such programs should provide early, controlled access to the strongest cyber models and, where appropriate, pre-release versions. Among the conditions, the authors also cite "sufficient" computing power and the ability of autonomous agents to work on long-running tasks—without this, meaningful security reviews cannot be conducted.

Separately, the coalition requests secure environments for analyzing private or closed-source code, as well as participation rights for small, non-profit, and independent maintainers on par with large companies and states. The final item on the list is a direct channel for coordinated vulnerability reporting, remediation, and communication with laboratory security teams.

The digital asset industry is ready to help identify trusted participants, establish standards, and coordinate remediation when issues are found. Advanced AI, according to the authors, could become one of the most powerful defensive technologies in history—but only with fair access to such systems.

The letter was signed by representatives of the Bitcoin Policy Institute, Coinbase, Block, Blockstream, BitGo, Anchorage Digital, Bitwise, Trezor, MARA, Foundry, Galaxy, Strategy, Strike, and River, as well as dozens of other participants from the digital asset, cybersecurity, and open-source sectors.

Analytical commentary: This appeal is not merely a request for access, but a signal of the formation of a new front in the battle for security in the age of AI. The crypto industry, built on principles of decentralization and openness, faces a paradox: the most powerful defense tools are in the hands of a narrow circle of corporations. If laboratories do not open their doors, we risk a world where security becomes a privilege rather than a right.