Open Source · Bitcoin · China · Decrypt
AI Has Made Bitcoin Software a Target—This Group Is Fighting Back
Compiled by KHAO Editorial — aggregated from 2 sources. See llms.txt for citation guidance.
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AI is putting powerful hacking capabilities in the hands of people with little cybersecurity expertise, forcing crypto developers into a race to find vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them.
Key facts
- The Bitcoin Red Team consists of about 20 to 25 volunteers, according to Calle, many of whom prefer to remain pseudonymous, such as Bitcoin privacy protocol developers Stu, Talip, and fellow Cashu
- The team have been working around the clock, with ~$20,000 of spend up to this point across different services
- Calle said the Bitcoin Red Team began taking shape after CEO of Bitcoin Insurance firm AnchorWatch Rob Hamilton started examining Bitcoin projects following the Coldcard air-gapped wallet hack
- As Calle explained, the Red Team receives requests from Bitcoin projects seeking security scans but also searches for vulnerabilities on its own
Summary
The group has proactively scanned much of Bitcoin's significant open-source ecosystem and works directly with projects to identify and fix vulnerabilities. Calle warned that AI allows people without advanced security expertise to carry out exploits from beginning to end. One group taking on that challenge is the Bitcoin Red Team, whose pseudonymous member and Bitcoin software developer Calle said formed as an emergency effort to find AI-assisted security threats across the Bitcoin ecosystem. "At this point, it is a question about time,” Calle, who helps maintain the open-source protocol Cashu, told Decrypt.