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- A senior US military official said the government is running a Bitcoin node to test the network’s cybersecurity uses.
- Admiral Samuel Paparo said the military sees Bitcoin primarily as a tool to help secure networks.
- He also praised stablecoin legislation for helping ensure the global dominance of the US dollar.
The US government currently operates a node on the Bitcoin network, conducting tests related to the network’s security, a senior military official told Congress on Wednesday.
“We have a node on the Bitcoin network right now,” Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of US forces in the Pacific, told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.
“We are not mining Bitcoin,” he continued. “We use it for monitoring, and we conduct a number of operational tests to secure and protect networks using the Bitcoin protocol.”
Bitcoin’s blockchain is based on tens of thousands of… Contract Located around the world, which helps secure and maintain the network. The network of nodes is intentionally decentralized, meaning that no party has control over Bitcoin and its transaction validation process. This is a major innovation, and one that made the cryptocurrency unique when it debuted in 2009.
If the US government runs just one of the thousands of nodes that keep Bitcoin up and running, then this interference poses no threat to the network’s independence. But America running the node may raise eyebrows nonetheless, considering that Bitcoin’s “censorship resistance” has been around for a long time. framed As a defense against takeover attempts by powerful nation-states.
Admiral Paparo said on Wednesday that the US government is currently in an “experimentation” phase when it comes to Bitcoin. But he also emphasized that the US military views bitcoin as a highly valuable technological tool — more than a financial asset worth storing.
“Our interest in Bitcoin is as a cryptographic, blockchain, and reusable tool Proof of work– As an additional tool to secure networks and demonstrate strength.
“From a military application standpoint, my interest in Bitcoin is as a computer science tool,” he added.
However, Paparo later stated that supporting the dominance of the US dollar around the world was in the interest of the US military establishment. He pointed out that The law of geniusThe law signed by President Donald Trump last summer to legalize the issuance of stablecoins — cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of the dollar — “is a great step forward that moves us in this direction.”
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