“Bitcoin is the beginning of a cybersecurity revolution,” proclaimed Jason Lowery, a major in the US Space Force and the author of SoftWar. Lowery, a staunch Bitcoin advocate, emphasized the need to recognize the cryptocurrency as of national strategic importance, proposing its use to safeguard the nation from cyber-inflicted warfare. In a four-page letter addressed to the U.S. Defense Innovation Board, he attempted to portray Bitcoin’s capability to secure not only funds but also “all forms of data, messages, or command signals.”
It converts the global electric power grid into a large, physically costly computer, or ‘macrochip,’ and uses it to physically constrain malicious actors and safeguard a wide range of data and messages traversing the internet. As a result, this misconception underplays the technology’s broad strategic significance for cybersecurity, and consequently, national security.
Exploring the parallel between Bitcoin’s proof-of-work system and traditional military deterrence strategies, Lowery argued that the steep costs associated with a physically resource-intensive computer act as a deterrent against adversaries launching cyberattacks. He likened proof-of-work to the physical security and deterrence strategies employed in land, sea, air, and space domains, asserting its application in the digital domain.
Lowery envisioned Bitcoin’s potential cybersecurity applications as monumental, suggesting it could play a pivotal role in ensuring the United States maintains its global leadership position. He stressed the urgency of addressing this aspect to navigate the challenges of an increasingly digital and interconnected world fraught with security vulnerabilities.
Bitcoin’s Cybersecurity Applications In U.S. Defense
In conclusion, Lowery emphasized that Bitcoin’s cybersecurity applications align perfectly with a strategic offset and expressed concern that the U.S. Department of Defense may have already lost valuable time by not integrating it into its arsenal.
As a national defense fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT], Lowery gained prominence for his SoftWar thesis, asserting that Bitcoin is indispensable for the U.S. military’s national security, projecting power to defend and secure the non-physical realm of cyberspace.
Meanwhile, the world’s biggest crypto currency surpassed the $40k mark, its highest since April 2022. The dominant crypto rides a wave of bullish momentum about U.S. interest rate cuts and as traders anticipate the imminent approval of U.S.-stockmarket traded bitcoin funds.