{"id":836,"date":"2026-08-04T14:00:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T06:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/?btc_ct_news=crypto-firms-still-seeking-frontier-ai-access-only-select-few-have-it"},"modified":"2026-08-04T17:10:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T09:10:48","slug":"crypto-firms-still-seeking-frontier-ai-access-only-select-few-have-it","status":"publish","type":"btc_ct_news","link":"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/?btc_ct_news=crypto-firms-still-seeking-frontier-ai-access-only-select-few-have-it","title":{"rendered":"Crypto firms still seeking frontier AI access; only select few have it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Many of crypto\u2019s biggest players are still waiting to gain access to powerful new AI models to strengthen their code from attacks, with only a select few having been able to get it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>US crypto exchange Coinbase said in June that it had <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JLunglhofer\/status\/2064406676501930076\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">secured<\/a> access to Anthropic\u2019s restricted Mythos model and Zcash\u2019s Zooko Wilcox <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/zooko\/status\/2065541979979784341?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> Anthropic used the model to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/\">audit the Zcash protocol<\/a>\u00a0at the request of Shielded Labs, while other major crypto players are seemingly yet to get access.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s one advanced frontier model that hasn\u2019t been made available to crypto just yet,\u201d Binance\u2019s chief security officer Jimmy Su told Cointelegraph. \u201cWe have been trying to make inroads there. We also talked to other crypto exchanges and our own investors to try to make some progress. But we haven\u2019t gotten the most frontier AI model, like Mythos.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The uneven access creates a new security divide in an industry where exploits can put billions of dollars at risk. While model developers like Anthropic and OpenAI have chosen to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/\">restrict their most cyber-capable models<\/a> from the public, there are concerns that increasingly powerful open-source alternatives mean crypto firms are left to deal with sophisticated AI-assisted attacks without the most capable tools to defend against them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Crypto executives say restricted access is initially necessary<\/h2>\n<p>Anthropic says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/\">Mythos 5<\/a> uses the same underlying model as its publicly available Fable 5, but without safeguards that restrict sensitive cybersecurity work.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>OpenAI operates a similar tiered system: verified defenders can use GPT-5.5 with \u201cTrusted Access for Cyber,\u201d while its more permissive GPT-5.5-Cyber model is reserved for a smaller group conducting authorized penetration testing.<\/p>\n<p>Crypto security executives interviewed by Cointelegraph said there is likely a need to initially restrict access to frontier cyber models, but said continuing to gate them becomes harder to justify once publicly available models approach the same capabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-images.ctmedia.io\/media\/content\/pasted-image-2244.png\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><em>Source: <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/zooko\/status\/2065541979979784341\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Zooko Wilcox<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Su said Anthropic\u2019s controlled rollout is a responsible approach because newly released models may benefit attackers faster than defenders.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it enhances the attacker much faster than the defender, then it actually is harming the ecosystem,\u201d he said, adding that a limited testing period could reduce the potential \u201cblast radius.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Related: <\/strong><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/\"><em><strong>Can AI drain DeFi? Separating Claude Mythos hype from reality<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>However, Su said this calculation changes when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/\">competing models<\/a> become more powerful and widely available.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs other more powerful models are being released, the pressure will be on Anthropic to make it more widely available,\u201d he said. The question would be whether defenders can deploy the frontier model as effectively as attackers once it becomes available, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-images.ctmedia.io\/media\/content\/pasted-image-2245.png\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><em>The number of critical-severity CVEs has climbed after the launch of Claude Mythos Preview. Source: <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/EpochAIResearch\/status\/2084370827802554585?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Epoch AI<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Solana Foundation chief information security officer Michael Coates, who joined the foundation in July, also supported safeguards but argued that legitimate defenders need a faster route to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI fully understand guardrails for advanced models, but we need to streamline the verification programs, the acceptance programs, to give these models to legitimate defenders,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to make sure that the best models we can get are in the hands of defenders because attackers will have something capable enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blockchain Capital\u2019s Sean Cheetham also supported eventually opening up restrictions, and said that broader availability could ultimately favor defenders as legitimate security researchers greatly outnumber the small groups conducting sophisticated attacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf good people can multiply their defense scale\u2026 you\u2019re much better off just opening it up and allowing them to defend themselves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h2>Uneven access to frontier AI models\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p>Binance\u2019s lack of access comes despite it being the biggest crypto exchange in the world by daily trading volume. The exchange holds a total of $137.8 billion in assets, <a href=\"https:\/\/defillama.com\/cex\/binance-cex\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">according<\/a> to DefiLlama.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Crypto custodian Fireblocks, which secures trillions in assets annually, said in April it has sought access to Mythos and at the time, only used Anthropic\u2019s publicly available model for pentesting, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theinformation.com\/articles\/crypto-firms-seek-access-anthropics-mythos-shoring-defenses\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">according<\/a> to The Information, while Uniswap founder Hayden Adams in June <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/haydenzadams\/status\/2064420159461208163?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">slammed<\/a> Fable 5\u2019s safeguards that restrict prompts relating to cybersecurity.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Ethereum Foundation in July said it has been running \u201ccoordinated AI agents\u201d to find bugs across its systems, but didn\u2019t disclose which models were being used.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cointelegraph reached out to Ethereum Foundation, Fireblocks and Uniswap to confirm if they have since received access to frontier AI models.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-images.ctmedia.io\/media\/content\/pasted-image-2246.png\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><em>Source: <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/haydenzadams\/status\/2042455429020627293?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Hayden Davis<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, some crypto-adjacent companies have gained access. FIS, which provides technology to banks and partnered with Circle in July last year to let banking clients offer domestic and cross-border payments in USDC, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.investor.fisglobal.com\/news-releases\/news-release-details\/fis-and-anthropic-extend-partnership-trusted-ai-financial\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">joined<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anthropic.com\/news\/expanding-project-glasswing\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Project Glasswing<\/a> last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Project Glasswing is Anthropic\u2019s gated program for giving vetted cyber defenders and organizations responsible for critical software infrastructure early access to its restricted Mythos models.<\/p>\n<p>HackerOne, which provides bug-bounty and security testing services to major crypto exchanges, among others, also said it joined Project Glasswing, though testing is confined to its own infrastructure, not its customers\u2019 programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cointelegraph reached out to OpenAI and Anthropic about how many crypto companies have been given access to restricted models.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>AI-assisted hacking attempts on the rise<\/h2>\n<p>On Monday, Bitcoin swap service Boltz said it has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/\">chosen to halt its non-custodial bridge<\/a> after seeing a steady rise in AI-assisted exploits over the past few months.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe pattern is clear: attackers now iterate faster than a team our size can find and patch.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Last week, Bitcoin hardware wallet company Coinkite said a number of its Coldcard devices were exploited due to a flaw in its wallet seed generation, which turned out to be less random than expected.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It speculated that the attacker had used AI to review previous versions of the firmware to find and exploit the flaw, despite it using \u201cone of the best available AI models\u201d to review its code just weeks before.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Magazine: <\/strong><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/\"><em><strong>Fears of AI-driven DeFi hack epidemic overstated for now \u2014 but not for long<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"btc-ct-seo-links\"><strong>Related:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/crypto-news\/?section=bitcoin\">Bitcoin price<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/#treasury-data\">BTC live chart<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/crypto-news\/?section=ethereum\">Ethereum price<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/crypto-news\/?section=ethereum\">ETH gas fee<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/crypto-news\/?section=bitcoin\">Bitcoin price today<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/#treasury-data\">Top 10 cryptocurrencies<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"btc-ct-attr\"><em>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/\">Cointelegraph<\/a> \/ Felix Ng<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Crypto executives say restricting powerful AI models may initially be justified, but it doesn\u2019t make sense as open-source alternatives become more capable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":837,"template":"","btc_ct_section":[7],"class_list":["post-836","btc_ct_news","type-btc_ct_news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","btc_ct_section-latest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/btc_ct_news\/836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/btc_ct_news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/btc_ct_news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"btc_ct_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.btcethdata.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fbtc_ct_section&post=836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}