Bitcoin Developers Seek Early Access to Frontier AI Models Amid Rising Hack Activity

A coalition of crypto companies and industry groups has asked frontier artificial intelligence labs to provide Bitcoin developers and other open-source 'defenders' early access to their most capable models.

The request comes in a letter published by the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI), arguing that current access arrangements can leave critical infrastructure teams operating behind the pace of rapidly advancing AI-assisted cyber capabilities.

According to the letter, signatories say many defenders, including Bitcoin Core developers, can be limited by the absence of dedicated 'trusted-access programs' and by guardrails applied to publicly available frontier systems. As a result, they contend that qualified teams may be forced to rely on less capable open-weight models, even as attackers may use more powerful AI tooling to probe for weaknesses.

The letter highlights recent increases in hack activity across the sector, citing DefiLlama data showing that total monthly crypto hacks surged in April 2026, with malicious actors stealing more than $634 million from cryptocurrency platforms.