Crypto news

The Bitcoin Policy Institute and dozens of leading crypto industry companies have joined forces in an unprecedented initiative, demanding that the world's largest AI labs provide verified open-source developers with access to the most powerful artificial intelligence models. The reason — a critical need to protect the financial infrastructure that underpins trillions of dollars.

In my analysis of this situation, it's clear: we stand on the brink of a new phase in the digital arms race, where AI becomes simultaneously the most powerful shield and the sharpest sword. The open letter, signed by dozens of organizations — from developers and major custodians to payment services and security firms — emphasizes that their businesses directly depend on the integrity of open infrastructure and cryptographic libraries.

Defenders without the strongest tools

The authors of the appeal rightly note that over recent weeks, the need for such access has become obvious. People who daily protect digital asset infrastructure and open-source software are deprived of the ability to use the latest AI developments for thorough security verification. Without this, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to counter sophisticated malicious actors.

Open source has long become financial infrastructure. The Bitcoin network alone safeguards more than a trillion dollars, and the entire digital asset ecosystem — from wallets and cryptographic libraries to node software, custodial systems, exchanges, and payment networks — operates with trillions of dollars. This infrastructure is openly developed by companies, non-profit organizations, independent researchers, and grant-funded maintainers.

Behind this software stand the personal money of millions of people. These are retirement savings, business capital, reserve funds, and family wealth. A single vulnerability can take away a lifetime of savings. That's why digital assets are so attractive to cyber attackers.

Cryptocurrencies are designed in such a way that the path from a hack to losing money is short. In such conditions, it is especially important to find and close vulnerabilities in advance. Cutting-edge AI changes the economics for both security researchers and attackers.

Defenders in the least privileged position

Advanced models are capable of scanning vast codebases, finding weaknesses, and accelerating complex technical work — both for defense and attack. These capabilities are already spreading through public open-source models, unauthorized access to corporate systems, and specialized cyberattack tools.

Today, leading labs and select partners see new cyber capabilities months before they become known to 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, lack access to lab 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. Based on my data, developers occupy the most vulnerable position in the entire security framework around AI.

Open-source maintainers report continuous AI-assisted attacks, possibly from other countries. It is extremely difficult for small teams to sustain such a pace.

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

What the coalition demands from labs

Early access and reasonable compute budgets would help key developers create more secure code and eliminate vulnerabilities before losses occur. The coalition asks frontier AI labs 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, to pre-release versions. Among the conditions, the authors also cite "sufficient" computing power and the operation of autonomous agents on long-running tasks — without which meaningful security checks are impossible.

Separately, the coalition requests secure environments for analyzing private or closed-source code, as well as the right for small, non-profit, and independent maintainers to participate on equal footing with large companies and states. The final point is a direct channel for coordinated vulnerability reporting, remediation, and communication with lab security teams.

The digital asset industry is ready to help identify trusted participants, establish standards, and coordinate issue resolution. Frontier AI 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.

My comment: This initiative is a landmark moment. It shows that the crypto industry recognizes that in the new reality, cybersecurity without access to frontier AI is defense without artillery. The question is not whether AI will become the primary defense tool, but who gets access to it first. If labs ignore this call, they risk leaving the open financial system defenseless against those who have already armed themselves. This is not just a request for access — it is a demand for survival for the entire ecosystem.