[DigitalToday reporter Yoonseo Lee (이윤서)] The cryptocurrency industry urged artificial intelligence (AI) companies to expand early access to state-of-the-art AI models for bitcoin developers and security personnel responsible for open-source financial infrastructure.

Cointelegraph, a blockchain outlet, reported on Aug. 12 that the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) released an open letter calling for such steps.

The letter said defenders of digital assets, including Bitcoin Core developers, are often unable to access AI labs' cybersecurity programmes. It said use is also limited by guardrails on publicly available top-tier models. As a result, it argued they have no choice but to rely on lower-performing open-weight models.

Companies and groups that signed the letter urged top AI labs to create or expand a standing access programme for those responsible for defending open-source financial infrastructure. Signatories included Africa Bitcoin Institute, Anchorage Digital, BitGo, Bitwise, Blockstream, Bull Bitcoin, Mara, Kraken, Ledger and Trezor.

They said the core issue is that AI is changing the cost structure of security research and cyber operations. Advanced AI models can scour large code repositories to find potential vulnerabilities and quickly carry out complex technical tasks. Those capabilities can be used to strengthen defence, but can also provide the same advantages to attackers.

Hack-related losses in the industry are also growing. DefiLlama data showed that hacking losses at cryptocurrency platforms in April 2026 exceeded $634 million, the highest monthly total since the Bybit hack. In February 2025, total losses reached about $1.4 billion due to the impact of the Bybit hack.

Concerns are also rising across the security industry as AI-driven vulnerability discovery becomes more advanced. Mitchell Amador (미첼 아마도르), chief executive of bug bounty platform Immunefi, said new models such as Claude Opus 4.8 and GPT-5.5 had fuelled a disaster for the cryptocurrency industry.

The industry sees the demand not as a simple access issue but as a question of defence capacity for infrastructure. The letter stressed that open-source software underpins key digital and financial infrastructure, and that bitcoin alone protects value exceeding $1 trillion. It also warned that vulnerabilities in open-source infrastructure could put individuals' lifetime savings at risk.

The focus now is whether AI companies will actually broaden limited early-access systems for security purposes. With safeguards on public models and access controls on high-performance models remaining in place, how much defensive capability bitcoin and open-source developers can secure is emerging as the next issue for the industry.