Bitcoin Red Team founder turns to Chinese AI: ‘It absolutely guts me’

Bitcoin Red Team, a collective of security researchers, has uncovered 1,288 critical and high-level vulnerabilities within the Bitcoin ecosystem, as of Saturday. AnchorWatch CEO Rob Hamilton, one of the team members, recounted his recent struggle with limitations imposed by OpenAI, a leading AI provider. Hamilton had initially integrated OpenAI's Trust & Cyber capabilities into his Bitcoin Red Team work on Saturday, only to be barred from further use the following day.

Expressing his disappointment, Hamilton stated, "It absolutely guts me as a patriotic American to have to do this, but I will be going back to using Chinese open source models to conduct my research to protect Bitcoin infrastructure." The Bitcoin Red Team utilizes AI tools alongside human analysis to scan numerous open-source Bitcoin-related repositories for security flaws.

The acceleration of these efforts came after the Coldcard hardware wallet hack, which resulted in over $100 million in stolen Bitcoin. Crypto industry leaders have expressed concerns that many major players are still awaiting access to advanced AI models, with only a select few having gained entry. According to Hamilton, "Intelligence is unrestricted for those who don't follow rules, and those who engage in harm reduction are left on the sidelines."