U.S. military runs Bitcoin node, sees crypto as power projection versus China
Admiral Samuel Paparo, head of US Indo-Pacific Command, told two congressional panels this week that the military is running a live Bitcoin node for cybersecurity testing and views the protocol as a tool of national power in competition with China.
What to know:
— Adm. Samuel Paparo, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, told Congress the U.S. military is currently operating a live node on the Bitcoin network.
— Paparo said the node is not being used to mine Bitcoin but to monitor activity and run operational tests on securing and protecting networks using the Bitcoin protocol.
— The disclosure is notable because Bitcoin is designed to resist control by powerful governments, yet a U.S. combatant command is now directly participating in the peer-to-peer network.
A four-star U.S. Navy admiral has told Congress the military is running a live node on the Bitcoin network and testing it for national security purposes.
Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S.-Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), made the disclosure at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday, a day after telling the Senate Armed Services Committee that Bitcoin has «incredible potential» as a tool for American «power projection.» He also said it has great potential as tool for national security.
The House comments were the first public confirmation by a sitting US combatant commander that the military is directly participating in the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network.
«We have a node on the Bitcoin network right now,» Paparo said, responding to questions from Rep. Lance Gooden. «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.»
A Bitcoin node is a computer that stores the full history of the blockchain and enforces the network’s rules, relaying validated transactions across the peer-to-peer network. Unlike mining, it does not earn rewards and does not require specialized hardware.
Running a node is how participants in Bitcoin verify the network state independently rather than trusting third parties. There are an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 publicly reachable full nodes on the network as of early 2026, with the real number likely higher because many operate behind firewalls.
One node out of tens of thousands poses no threat to Bitcoin’s independence or its resistance to any single party controlling it.
But a US military combatant command running that node is notable because Bitcoin’s design has long been framed as a defense against takeover attempts by powerful governments, and INDOPACOM is the command responsible for US military operations across the Indo-Pacific, including the theater of strategic competition with China.