Within the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s institution of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR), hypothesis has emerged concerning potential Division of Protection (DoD) initiatives to interact in cryptocurrency mining.
Is the DoD Coming into the Bitcoin Mining Enviornment? An X Put up Sparks the Dialogue
On March 17, Michelle Weekley, an govt at cryptocurrency enterprise Byte Federal, ignited a provocative dialogue concerning the U.S. Division of Protection’s potential exploration of bitcoin ( BTC) mining. On Monday Weekley declared, “I believe the DoD goes to begin mining bitcoin,” accompanying her speculation with a sequence of mysterious and imprecise visuals.
Weekley’s X submit.
Among the many disseminated supplies was a repost from Michael Saylor, founding father of Technique, that includes his cryptic declaration: “Large issues are coming.” Weekley additional amplified intrigue by circulating a snapshot from Matthew Pines, Bitcoin Coverage Institute’s Government Director, depicting a nondescript convention area captioned, “The room the place it occurred.”
She additionally stoked curiosity by exhibiting a visible from Bitcoin Journal CEO David Bailey, who interjected with philosophical brevity beneath Michael Saylor’s cryptic “Large issues are coming” submit: “Embrace the Sport Principle.” A subsequent Bailey missive, “Whenever you assume the present is over nevertheless it’s actually simply starting,” added layers of thriller to the digital collage.
Her curated gallery additional spotlighted Jason Lowery, a U.S. House Drive officer and aeronautics professional, whose X trade revealed tantalizing opacity. When queried a couple of profile photograph change, Lowery demurred, “Give it about 3 weeks and it ought to grow to be extra apparent”—a comment harmonizing with Weekley’s speculation.
Her conjecture additionally mirrors Lowery’s treatise in “Softwar: A Novel Principle on Energy Projection and the Nationwide Strategic Significance of Bitcoin,” which posits that harnessing tangible property—like vitality—to command digital realms may fortify a nation’s defenses.
Ought to the DoD enterprise into bitcoin mining, it could plunge into the proof-of-work (PoW) mechanism, remodeling kilowatts into cryptographic fortifications. Such a gambit dovetails with Lowery’s imaginative and prescient of leveraging tangible property to dominate digital domains, framing blockchain safety as a geopolitical chesspiece. By anchoring community integrity by way of computational heft, the company may actualize Lowery’s Softwar doctrine.
Printed in February 2023, Lowery’s manifesto reimagines Bitcoin not as a mere digital foreign money community however an electro-cyber protect with profound tactical ramifications. His thesis hinges on the friction between corporeal pressure (vitality, sure by thermodynamics) and ideological dominion (collective perception), interlaced with methods rooted in sport principle ideas. Weekley’s speculative thread, in the meantime, ignited a number of digital pundits, who flooded the thread with conjecture.
The founding father of Barefoot Mining, Bob Burnett responded saying, “I’m not saying I prefer it, however it’s inevitable. The Fed will doubtless accomplish that as properly and so will the CIA and NSA. I count on that the latter two already do.” One other particular person in Weekley’s thread remarked stating, “I believe the DoD has been mining bitcoin for years as a nationwide safety concern and Softwar and [Jason Lowery] has been the schooling autos to maneuver the Overton Window.”
If the DoD have been to embrace the Softwar thesis, it may fully reshape the best way cyber warfare is waged. As an alternative of leaning solely on standard strategies like malware and hacking, nations would have interaction in a battle of computational energy and vitality dominance. The tangible prices of proof-of-work would make any try and assault or manipulate the system prohibitively costly, making a formidable protect for nationwide cybersecurity.
For now, although, the concept stays pure hypothesis—simply theoretical musings with none concrete motion. Nonetheless, it’s an intriguing idea to think about.
