US Government Runs a Bitcoin Node, But Not Mining BTC: US Admiral

In brief

• A top U.S. military official said the government runs a Bitcoin node to test cybersecurity uses of the network.
• Admiral Samuel Paparo said the military sees Bitcoin mainly as a tool to help secure networks.
• He also praised stablecoin legislation for helping ensure the global dominance of the U.S. dollar.

A top military official told Congress Wednesday that the U.S. government currently runs a node on the Bitcoin network, to conduct tests related to network security.

“We have a node on the Bitcoin network right now,” Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, told the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday.

“We’re not mining Bitcoin,” he continued. “We’re using it to monitor, and we’re doing a number of operational tests to secure and protect networks using the Bitcoin protocol.”

The Bitcoin blockchain relies on tens of thousands of nodes situated around the world, which help secure and maintain the network. The node network is intentionally decentralized, meaning no one party has control over Bitcoin and its transaction validation process. That’s a key innovation—one that made the cryptocurrency so unique when it first debuted in 2009.

If the U.S. government runs only one of the thousands of nodes that keep Bitcoin up and running, that involvement poses no threat to the network’s independence. But America’s operation of a node may nevertheless raise eyebrows, considering Bitcoin’s “censorship resistance” has long been framed as a defense against takeover attempts by powerful nation states.

Admiral Paparo said Wednesday that the U.S. government is currently in an “experimentation” phase when it comes to Bitcoin. But he also emphasized that the American military views Bitcoin as a highly valuable technological tool—moreso than as a financial asset worth stockpiling.

“Our interest in Bitcoin is as a tool of cryptography, a blockchain, and a reusable proof-of-work—as an additional tool to secure networks, and to project power,” he said.

“From the military application standpoint, my interest in Bitcoin is as a computer science tool,” he added.

Paparo did later mention, though, that supporting hegemony of the U.S. dollar worldwide is in the American military’s best interest. And he noted that the GENIUS Act, a law signed last summer by President Donald Trump legalizing the issuance of stablecoins—cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of the dollar—“is a great step forward that moves us in that direction.”