I read something that really caught my attention this week. While there’s a lot of talk about quantum risks for Bitcoin, there’s a much more immediate danger emerging with Mythos, the new model from Anthropic. And honestly, it might be more concerning than we think for the entire crypto ecosystem.

The crazy thing is that Mythos has already started finding zero-day vulnerabilities that no one had detected. We’re talking about a 27-year-old bug in OpenBSD for less than 50 dollars in computational costs. A 16-year-old flaw in FFmpeg that we’ve scanned 5 million times without noticing it. And the model has even chained four distinct vulnerabilities to create a complete browser exploit. This is the level that no existing automated tool had reached.

But here’s the really critical problem for DeFi and crypto: Mythos has also discovered weaknesses in the most popular cryptographic libraries. TLS, AES-GCM, SSH. These things literally secure the entire Internet. If someone found flaws in them, we could forge certificates or decrypt private communications. And this is exactly what protects DeFi infrastructure and exchanges.

The real threat to crypto is that all DeFi protocols are open-source code. Anyone, including a model like Mythos, can read it and find every weakness at machine speed for virtually zero cost. The 200 billion dollars locked in smart contracts on Ethereum, Solana, and other chains? They’ve been audited by humans and scanners, but Anthropic clearly says that Mythos operates beyond both.

And that’s where it gets really interesting. Most DeFi defenses rely on what’s called friction. Multisigs that require multiple approvals, timelocks that delay transactions, audit reports as proof of security. These are all slowdowns, not code-level blockages. Anthropic says it directly: these measures “can become considerably less effective against adversaries assisted by models.”

For now, the market hasn’t really reacted. The CoinDesk DeFi index gained 7% in 24 hours, outperforming Bitcoin and Ethereum, thanks to an improvement in overall risk sentiment. But looking ahead, traders should really watch not only the macro side, but also developments around Mythos. The implications for software security and blockchain security are enormous.

The good news? Mythos isn’t public yet. Anthropic is sharing it only with 40 major software giants like Google, Apple, and Microsoft as part of the Projet Glasswing. That gives the crypto ecosystem a little time to prepare and strengthen defenses.

On another topic, I also noticed that Bhutan quietly sold about 70% of its bitcoins in October 2024. They had 13,000, and now it’s down to 3,954 BTC, which is about 280 million dollars. It also seems they slowed down or stopped their hydroelectric-powered mining. It’s an interesting signal from a major institutional player.

In any case, that’s why I’m becoming more and more attentive to AI and security developments for crypto. It’s probably more urgent than theoretical debates about quantum.