OpenAI blocks AnchorWatch CEO Rob Hamilton from using its Trust & Cyber capabilities to audit open-source Bitcoin repositories. The restriction, which followed similar access blocks by Anthropic, forces the volunteer Bitcoin Red Team to migrate to Chinese open-source AI models like Moonshot AI's Kimi K3. The security initiative was launched to protect Bitcoin infrastructure after a Coldcard wallet vulnerability led to the theft of over 1,000 BTC, valued at more than $100 million.
OpenAI blocks security researcher
- ▪OpenAI restricted Rob Hamilton's access to its Trust & Cyber capabilities on August 9, 2026, despite Hamilton having previously completed the platform's onboarding and KYC processes.
- ▪OpenAI reportedly restored some access to its platform for Rob Hamilton after the Bitcoin Red Team project gained public attention.
- ▪On August 9, 2026, OpenAI's trust cyber program blocked AnchorWatch CEO Rob Hamilton from using its AI tools to analyze open-source Bitcoin repositories.
Bitcoin Red Team findings
- ▪The volunteer Bitcoin Red Team scanned over 390 open-source Bitcoin repositories and recorded 4,962 findings within its first 30 hours of operation.
- ▪The Bitcoin Red Team project spent between $20,000 and $40,000 on AI compute, utilizing models such as Moonshot AI's Kimi K3, OpenAI's Cyber Harness, Anthropic's Claude Fable and Opus, and GLM 5.2.
- ▪The Bitcoin Red Team identified 85 critical and over 635 high-severity issues, with an independent reproduction rate of approximately 21% for the flagged vulnerabilities.
Migration to Chinese AI
- ▪Rob Hamilton stated that migrating to Chinese open-source AI models was necessary to continue conducting security research to protect Bitcoin infrastructure.
- ▪Following restrictions by American AI platforms, Rob Hamilton transitioned the Bitcoin Red Team's research to open-source Chinese AI models, primarily Kimi K3 developed by Moonshot AI.
Coldcard wallet vulnerability response
- ▪The Coldcard hardware wallet security vulnerability led to the theft of cryptocurrency valued at more than $100 million.
- ▪The Bitcoin Red Team was formed as a direct response to a late-July 2026 vulnerability disclosure involving Coldcard hardware wallets that resulted in the theft of over 1,000 BTC.
AI platform access restrictions
- ▪Crypto executives reported in July 2026 that many major cryptocurrency firms are still waiting to gain access to powerful frontier AI models to secure their codebases.
- ▪Anthropic imposed access restrictions on Rob Hamilton during the early stages of the Bitcoin Red Team project, despite Hamilton having completed their verification process.
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