The Pentagon has been leading mock situations to determine what would happen if crypto became stronger than fiat
Cryptocurrency hasn’t found the support in the US that it has found in other countries. However, that hasn’t stopped it from being part of the country’s infrastructure – in some respects. The Pentagon has apparently been running wargames for the past couple of years to see how crypto might, at some point, try to overcome fiat.
Media outlet The Intercept was able to get its hands on documents that show how the Department of Defense has created scenarios where people born from the mid-90s onward use cyberattacks to steal fiat and then covert it to crypto. The program, the 2018 Joint Land, Air and Sea Strategic Special Program (JLASS), creates a thriving society in 2025 that is “intended to reflect a plausible depiction of major trends and influences in the world regions.”
The revelation of the wargames came following a call by some politicians to freeze finances of certain individuals in the wake of the current political and social unrest in the country. However, a government’s ability to control personal assets can be mitigated, especially with the introduction of digital currencies.
It isn’t clear what the Pentagon has been able to determine through the wargames, other than understanding how resilient crypto is and how it could avoid being controlled by governments. According to previous comments made by crypto consultant Nathaniel Whittemore, which were almost certainly included in the scenarios, “In the wake of unprecedented central bank action around the Covid-19 crisis, it seemed like the most relevant narrative of bitcoin in 2020 was as a hedge against inflation. It appears, however, that its capacity for censorship resistance might be just as relevant.”