CIA employs Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as a tool against China and other geopolitical adversaries of the United States. This was stated by the agency’s Deputy Director, Michael Ellis, in a podcast with Anthony Pompliano, founder of Pomp Investments.
According to him, digital assets have become an area of technological competition between the US and China, and thus the agency uses them as “another tool in the arsenal.”
Ellis noted that Bitcoin is not an anonymous but a private system. The CIA is already collaborating with law enforcement agencies to track “illegal crypto payments made by criminals,” he added.
The agency representative emphasized that blockchain technologies provide intelligence with new opportunities to analyze the actions of adversaries.
“Bitcoin is not going anywhere. More institutions are accepting it — this is a trend that will continue to grow,” added the CIA Deputy Director.
Earlier in March, US President Donald Trump signed an order to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve based on assets confiscated by the Treasury.