US military running Bitcoin node to test national security applications, admiral tells Congress

The U.S. government is running a node on the Bitcoin network as part of military testing around cybersecurity and network defense, according to Admiral Samuel Paparo, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific.

Paparo made the remark during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday in response to questions from Lance Gooden, R-Tx., about Bitcoin’s national security implications.

“Presently we’re in experimentation,” Paparo said. “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.”

The comment offers a rare public glimpse into how the U.S. military may be evaluating Bitcoin beyond its role as a financial asset.

Paparo made clear that the military’s interest was technical. He told lawmakers that Bitcoin’s value to America’s combat forces lies in “cryptography, a blockchain, and reusable proof of work” as tools that could help secure networks and support the projection of power.

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

The distinction was notable, as Gooden had raised the issue in the context of digital competition with China and asked whether it would benefit the United States to maintain an edge in bitcoin holdings, much like gold or oil.

Paparo did not engage that question directly as a matter of stockpiling. Instead, he steered the conversation toward Bitcoin’s protocol design and cybersecurity relevance.

He also tied the conversation to the dollar’s global role. In the same exchange, Paparo said he supports “anything that maintains our own dollar dominance” and pointed to what he called the GENIUS Act as a step in that direction.

The remarks land as crypto policy in Washington DC is picking up pace again. There has recently been renewed pressure on stablecoin and broader market-structure legislation, with lawmakers and industry groups pushing to advance key bills.