Nunchuk, a Bitcoin wallet company, has published open-source software designed to allow artificial intelligence agents to interact with Bitcoin wallets without granting them unrestricted access to user funds. The tools were announced in a blog post on Wednesday and are released under an MIT open-source license. The release includes two code repositories: Nunchuk CLI and Agent Skills for Nunchuk CLI. The move addresses growing concerns about the risks of giving AI systems direct control over cryptocurrency holdings.
Nunchuk founder and CEO Hugo Nguyen explained that existing approaches to AI-managed wallets present a fundamental security problem. Either the agent is given full authority over a standalone wallet, or it acts on the user’s behalf through delegated signing. In both cases, Nguyen argues, there is no meaningful check on what the agent can do once it has been configured. A compromised, misconfigured, or poorly performing agent faces no barrier to misusing funds under those models.
The newly released Nunchuk CLI is a command-line tool that enables AI agents to interact with Bitcoin held in shared wallets, while users retain control of their private keys. Transactions that exceed a predefined spending limit require explicit human approval before they can proceed. This structure allows agents to operate within a defined scope of authority without being able to act unilaterally on larger sums.
A key design principle behind the tools is the separation of fund deposits from spending authority. Sending Bitcoin to a wallet does not automatically grant an AI agent permission to spend those funds. Nguyen described this distinction as central to the system’s purpose, noting that funding a wallet and authorizing an agent should remain two distinct decisions. Spending is further governed through configurable policies that can include limits, required approval steps, or time delays.
The tools rely on multisignature wallets, which are shared Bitcoin accounts that require more than one key to authorize a transaction. Agent Skills provides an interface through which AI models can use the CLI to carry out tasks including wallet setup, wallet creation, participant invitations, policy configuration, and transaction management. Together, the two components are intended to give AI agents practical financial capabilities within a controlled framework.
Founded in 2020, Nunchuk is an open-source mobile Bitcoin wallet built around multisignature security and self-custody. Its existing platform supports features such as inheritance planning and allows users to secure funds across multiple keys rather than depending on a single private key. The new developer tools extend that security philosophy into the context of AI automation.
Nguyen said the release is primarily aimed at developers who are building systems that combine AI-driven automation with human oversight. He acknowledged that many developers want to equip their agents with genuine financial capabilities but are not comfortable providing unrestricted wallet access. The tools are intended to close that gap by enabling bounded agent authority rather than forcing a choice between full control and no capability at all.
Originally reported by Decrypt.
