The U.S. government is running a bitcoin node to assess its cybersecurity value, and Admiral Samuel Paparo confirmed the test before the House Armed Services Committee.
Summary
What Paparo told Congress
Paparo said the military is not mining Bitcoin. Instead, it is using the system for network monitoring and operational tests. The focus is technical, not financial, with Bitcoin treated as a cryptographic and blockchain tool.
“We have a node on the Bitcoin network right now,” Paparo told lawmakers. He said the government is watching activity and testing security-related functions, not accumulating coins or pursuing yield.
Why the military is interested
Paparo described Bitcoin in computer-science terms. He called it “a tool of cryptography, a blockchain, and a reusable proof-of-work” that could help secure networks and project power. For military use, he said, the interest is “as a computer science tool”.
Moreover, the article says the network’s decentralized design, spread across tens of thousands of locations, helps protect it from tampering and control by any single party. In that context, the government’s own node is presented as a limited test, not a threat to the system’s independence.
Policy implications beyond the test
The hearing also moved beyond operational questions. Paparo discussed the strategic importance of preserving U.S. dollar dominance and referred to stablecoin legislation as part of that effort. He specifically mentioned the GENIUS Act, which he described as legalizing the issuance of stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar.
That said, he called the act “a great step forward” for that policy direction. The testimony places the government’s bitcoin node inside a broader debate over crypto infrastructure, bitcoin network security, and the future of stablecoin policy hearing priorities.
Overall, Paparo’s remarks amount to a rare public acknowledgment of direct government participation in Bitcoin infrastructure. The test is framed as experimentation with protocol-level security, not investment, and it shows how defense officials are studying digital networks more closely.
