A Bitcoin Policy Institute open letter published August 10 asks frontier AI labs to give vetted security researchers access to their strongest cyber-capable models before broad release. More than 40 Bitcoin and crypto organizations backed the request, arguing that current restrictions can leave defenders with weaker tools than attackers may obtain. Coinbase has received access to Anthropic's restricted Mythos model, according to Cointelegraph.
The Bitcoin Policy Institute published an open letter on August 10 asking frontier AI labs to create or expand trusted-access programs for security researchers protecting open-source financial infrastructure. Decrypt reported that more than 40 Bitcoin and crypto organizations backed the request at publication.
The letter asks for controlled access to the strongest cyber-capable models, including prerelease access where appropriate, along with sufficient compute, long-horizon agent use, secure environments for private code, eligibility for small and independent maintainers, and a direct disclosure channel to model-lab security teams.
BPI argues that advanced models can help researchers inspect large codebases, identify potential vulnerabilities and accelerate difficult security work. The same capabilities can aid attackers, creating the core policy tension behind controlled access to frontier cyber models.
Uneven access to restricted models
Cointelegraph reported on August 3 that Coinbase had obtained access to Anthropic's restricted Mythos model in June. It also reported that Zooko Wilcox said Anthropic used the model to audit the Zcash protocol at Shielded Labs' request.
Other firms remained without comparable access at the time of that report. Binance Chief Security Officer Jimmy Su told Cointelegraph that Binance had sought access to more frontier models but had not received Mythos. Su also described a limited initial rollout as responsible when a model could improve attacker capabilities faster than defender capabilities.
According to Cointelegraph, Anthropic's Mythos 5 uses the same underlying model as publicly available Fable 5, without safeguards restricting sensitive cybersecurity work. The outlet also reported that OpenAI offers verified defenders access to GPT-5.5 through its Trusted Access for Cyber program, while reserving its more permissive GPT-5.5-Cyber model for a smaller group performing authorized penetration tests.
Security-access tradeoff
The open letter centers on a practical asymmetry: public model safety controls can block legitimate vulnerability research, while attackers may use less restricted tools or independently available models. BPI's position is that qualified defenders of open-source financial systems should be included in trusted-access programs.
The request places Bitcoin and related open-source financial software directly into the broader debate over whether frontier-model cyber controls can distinguish authorized defensive research from harmful use. It is a proposal, not a confirmed change in access policy, and the retrieved reporting did not identify a public response from the major AI labs.
Key Points #
- 1A Bitcoin Policy Institute open letter published August 10 asks frontier AI labs to establish trusted-access programs for qualified defenders of open-source financial infrastructure.
- 2More than 40 Bitcoin and crypto organizations backed the request at publication, seeking prerelease access, sufficient compute, secure code-review environments, and coordinated disclosure channels.
- 3Older Cointelegraph reporting documented uneven access: Coinbase and a Zcash audit received Anthropic Mythos access, while other major crypto organizations were still waiting.
Scoring Rationale #
The request concerns access governance for cyber-capable AI models and the security of high-value open-source financial infrastructure. It is notable for AI security practitioners because it highlights the practical tension between model safeguards and authorized defensive research, although it is not a model release or confirmed policy change.
Sources #
Primary source and supporting public references used for this report.
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