Bitcoinbitcoin has become a flashpoint in U.S. politics over the last year, with big-name politicians making bitcoin central to their campaigns.
U.S. president Joe Biden issued a crypto executive order last year, kicking off what some in the bitcoin and crypto community fear was the beginning of a secret war on the crypto industry.
Now, a U.S. Space Force major has called on the Pentagon to mine bitcoin instead of going to war, arguing competition for bitcoin dominance in cyberspace will be how future conflicts are settled.
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In a 400-page dissertation, reported on by Politico this week and available for sale on Amazon from last month, Space Force major Jason Lowery said proof-of-work bitcoin mining could replace armed conflict in the future, with bitcoin representing “a national strategic imperative that the U.S. should support and adopt as quickly as possible, else it risks losing its lead as a global superpower in the 21st century.”
Bitcoin mining involves high-powered computers solving mathematical problems to secure the bitcoin blockchain in return for newly created bitcoins. The bitcoin network of computers is thought to use more energy per year than some small countries.
Lowery, an active-duty U.S. Space Force astronautical engineer and national defense fellow at MIT, advises military personnel on bitcoin. The Space Force was created in late 2019 to protect U.S. interests beyond earth.
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In Softwar: A Novel Theory on Power Projection and the National Strategic Significance of Bitcoin, Lowery recommends the U.S. begin stockpiling bitcoin, foster bitcoin mining in the country, and give bitcoin 2nd Amendment protections, arguing it’s a weapon of self-defense.
Meanwhile, influential Democrat senator Elizabeth Warren has embraced a quote from a recent Politico profile that said she’s “building an anti-crypto army,” using the line as part of her re-election campaign and feeding growing speculation that the U.S. is waging a secret war on crypto.
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