Coinbase, Strategy, and Blockstream back AI access push after vetted Bitcoin researcher gets blocked
A Bitcoin Policy Institute-led coalition, backed by Coinbase, Blockstream and Strategy, is urging frontier AI labs to give trusted crypto and open-source defenders earlier access to advanced cybersecurity models, enough compute for sustained reviews, and protected environments for sensitive code. The group argues current eligibility rules and safety filters can exclude smaller nonprofits and independent maintainers, even as AI makes vulnerability discovery and exploitation easier. Researchers say approved access still often fails in practice when legitimate defensive work is mistaken for offensive activity. OpenAI and Anthropic are already moving in this direction with programs like Daybreak and Glasswing, offering restricted access, credits and support for security teams. But the core tension remains: tighter safeguards can block real defenders, while broader access can let models exceed their intended boundaries or create new misuse risks. Recent intrusions and AI-assisted vulnerability findings show both sides of the trade-off.
