- Admiral Paparo told the Senate that INDOPACOM runs a live node on the Bitcoin network.
- Paparo called Bitcoin a power projection tool with key cybersecurity applications.
- China holds an estimated 194,000 BTC from the 2019 PlusToken fraud crackdown.
The head of U.S. forces across the Indo-Pacific told a Senate committee Monday that Bitcoin carries serious national security value and revealed his command is already running a live node on the Bitcoin network.
Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, made the remarks before the Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing on the fiscal year 2027 defence authorization request. It was the first time a combatant commander has publicly called Bitcoin a national security tool in congressional testimony.
For the unversed, President Trump signed an executive order in March 2025 establishing a U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, seeding it with cryptocurrency seized through criminal and civil asset forfeiture. The move brought the reserve concept from fringe discussion to official policy in a single stroke.
Not About the Price
Paparo’s focus was the protocol, specifically its cryptographic architecture, blockchain structure, and proof-of-work mechanism, not Bitcoin’s market value or investment case.
“Bitcoin shows incredible potential as a computer science tool that, through the proof-of-work protocols, actually imposes more costs than just the algorithmic securing of networks,” he told the committee.
He called it “a peer-to-peer, zero-trust transfer of value” with “really important computer science applications for cybersecurity” and described it as a tool for American power projection.
Then came the headline: “We have a node on the Bitcoin network. We are doing a number of operational tests to secure and protect networks using the Bitcoin protocol.”
Related: American Bitcoin Adds 11,298 Rigs, Lifts Hashrate and Stock 12%
China Was the Subtext
Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama prompted the exchange, asking whether U.S. leadership in Bitcoin could sharpen deterrence against Beijing. He said that China’s main monetary think tank had already published research treating Bitcoin as a strategic asset.
“Anything that supports all instruments of national power for the United States of America is to the good,” he said.
The context matters. Reportedly, Iran has begun accepting Bitcoin for transit fees in the Strait of Hormuz. Taiwan is debating holding it as a reserve asset against the threat of Chinese asset seizure. The admiral’s testimony lands against that backdrop.
Beijing’s Shadow Stockpile
China is believed to hold a Bitcoin stockpile, with some estimates placing its government holdings at roughly 190,000 BTC. Much of that traces back to the 2019 bust of PlusToken, one of the largest crypto fraud cases in history. Beijing has never officially disclosed its digital asset holdings and has not designated any of them a strategic reserve.
With China sitting on a vast undisclosed crypto stockpile and the U.S. reserve now a matter of presidential policy, the debate has moved well beyond finance.
Related: FCA Cracks Down on Illegal Cryptocurrency Trading in London
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