Bitcoin Red Team Founder Returns to Chinese Open-Source AI After OpenAI Access Restriction

AnchorWatch CEO Rob Hamilton, founder of Bitcoin Red Team, said he is returning to Chinese open-source AI models after OpenAI restricted his access to tools he had begun using for Bitcoin security research. According to Cointelegraph, Hamilton started integrating OpenAI’s Trust & Cyber capabilities into Bitcoin Red Team work on Saturday, but said his access was limited the next morning.

The development matters because Bitcoin Red Team is focused on finding serious vulnerabilities across Bitcoin-related infrastructure before attackers can exploit them. The volunteer group uses AI tools alongside human review to scan hundreds of open-source repositories, and Hamilton’s complaint highlights a concern among security researchers that defensive teams may not have equal access to the most capable AI systems.

Bitcoin Red Team has found 1,288 critical and high-level vulnerabilities in the Bitcoin ecosystem as of Saturday, according to the report. Its work accelerated after the Coldcard hardware wallet hack, which Cointelegraph said had resulted in more than $100 million in stolen Bitcoin.

Hamilton said the restriction prevented him from continuing to assess whether code changes were sufficient and whether other issues remained undiscovered. He argued that policy limits can leave compliant security researchers at a disadvantage while malicious actors ignore such rules.

Cointelegraph also noted that crypto executives recently said many major crypto firms are still waiting for access to powerful AI models that could help strengthen code against attacks. For Bitcoin infrastructure companies and open-source maintainers, the episode adds pressure to balance AI safety controls with practical access for defensive cybersecurity work.