The crypto industry has united against AI monopoly: an open letter demanding access to advanced models.
The largest players in the crypto industry, including the Bitcoin Policy Institute, Coinbase, Block, Galaxy, and dozens of other companies, have published an open letter to the world's leading AI labs. The core demand is to provide verified open-source developers with reliable access to cutting-edge artificial intelligence models to protect financial infrastructure.
The situation in the digital asset market has reached a critical point. Defenders of the infrastructure safeguarding trillions of dollars remain without the most powerful tools to counter cyber threats. This is not just about developer convenience—at stake are pension savings, corporate capital, and reserve funds of millions of people worldwide.
Why AI access has become a matter of survival
Open source has long been the financial foundation. By my estimates, the Bitcoin network alone secures assets worth more than three trillion dollars. The entire digital currency ecosystem—from wallets and cryptographic libraries to custodial systems, exchanges, and payment networks—depends on code developed by independent researchers and maintainers. These people, often working on grants, today lack access to the most advanced AI models that could dramatically accelerate vulnerability discovery.
Notably, Bitcoin Core developers—some of the most valuable specialists in the industry—do not have access to labs' trusted access programs. While attackers actively use cutting-edge AI for continuous assaults, defenders are forced to conduct critical audits on less powerful open-weight models. This puts them at a clear disadvantage.
What exactly the coalition demands
The letter outlines specific and reasonable demands. First and foremost—the creation of permanent trusted access programs for qualified security professionals working on open financial infrastructure. This should include early, controlled access to the strongest cyber models and, where appropriate, pre-release versions. The coalition also insists on providing sufficient computational resources and the ability for autonomous agents to work on long-running tasks—without this, comprehensive security analysis is impossible.
Particular attention is warranted for the demand regarding secure environments for analyzing private and closed-source code, as well as the right of small, non-profit, and independent maintainers to participate in programs on equal footing with large corporations and states. The need for a direct channel for coordinated vulnerability disclosure and communication with labs' security teams is also emphasized separately.
My analysis: this move is a long-overdue attempt to correct a fundamental imbalance of power in cybersecurity. While labs distribute access selectively, open-source defenders remain in a vulnerable position. If AI companies ignore this call, we risk a wave of incidents that will undermine trust in the entire digital economy. The coalition is ready to assist with participant verification and coordination—now the ball is in the labs' court.