U.S. military runs Bitcoin node for cybersecurity tests

Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Pacific forces, told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that the U.S. military is operating a node on the Bitcoin network as part of experimental cybersecurity and network-defense testing.

Paparo said the activity does not involve mining and is focused on monitoring the network and running operational tests of Bitcoin’s protocol to secure and protect computer networks.

He identified technical features of interest: cryptography, a blockchain and reusable proof of work, and described those elements as computer science tools that could support network defense and force projection.

When Representative Lance Gooden, R-Texas, asked whether holding Bitcoin would offer a strategic advantage similar to gold or oil, Paparo declined to recommend stockpiling. He framed the work as technical evaluation rather than accumulation of digital assets.

Paparo linked the experiments to economic security and said he supports measures to preserve the dollar’s global role, citing the GENIUS Act as relevant legislation.

Federal lawmakers have renewed attention to crypto policy, including proposals on stablecoins and market structure. Paparo’s testimony provided a defense perspective on how distributed-ledger designs and proof-of-work mechanisms might be used for cybersecurity.

“Presently we’re in experimentation,” Paparo told the committee. “We have a node on the Bitcoin network right now. We’re not mining Bitcoin, we’re using it to monitor, and we’re doing a number of operational tests to secure and protect networks using the Bitcoin protocol.”