Pentagon Taps Inca Digital To Examine Crypto Risks To National Security
The Pentagon is leading a new program to take a deep look at different types of cryptocurrencies and find out what kind of risks they might pose to national security and law enforcement, according to a Friday report published by The Washington Post.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the research and development arm of the US Department of Defense, intends to examine financial applications of distributed ledger.
As part of the program, the Pentagon and DARPA enlisted the services of Inca Digital, a provider of digital asset data and analytics, for a year-long collaboration to investigate the national security risks posed by cryptocurrencies using sophisticated tools to provide a more accurate assessment. critique of cryptocurrency markets.
A cryptocurrency is a digital asset used as a medium of exchange, where ownership information is held in a ledger in the form of a securely encoded digital repository that saves transaction records, regulates the creation of new coins, and validates the transfer of ownership of that coin.
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Pentagon: Identifying Fraud and Crypto Threat
Inca Digital and the Pentagon will embark on a project titled “Mapping the Impact of Digital Financial Assets” that aims to develop “cryptocurrency ecosystem mapping software” for the US government and commercial enterprises.
Adam Zarazinski, CEO of Inca Digital, said his company will help the government better understand how blockchains operate. The initiative also aims to simplify the identification of bitcoin fraud and illicit commercial activities.
DARPA will collaborate with Inca Digital on the development of a “first-of-its-kind” cryptographic mapping system under a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract, according to a Pentagon statement.
Zarazinski stated that given the growing prominence of crypto assets, the Pentagon and other government agencies “demand better tools for understanding how digital assets work and how to use their jurisdictional power over virtual currency markets around the world.”
DARPA has studied Blockchain for years
DARPA has looked at blockchain technology for several years, both for its possible ramifications and as a practical method for its own goals. He joined Trail of Bits in June of this year to assess the degree to which blockchains are decentralized and spot their weaknesses.
Meanwhile, there are already over 12,000 cryptocurrencies and the growth rate is simply staggering. From 2021 to 2022, the number of cryptocurrencies has more than doubled. By the end of 2021, around 1,000 new cryptocurrencies were added to the market each month.
Joseph V. Micallef, a bestselling author of military history and world affairs, identifies three ways that cryptocurrencies can affect US national security, in an article on Military.com.
First, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are easier to “launder” than cash or convert into other assets.
Second, the introduction of digital currencies means an immense shift in wealth.
The third and most significant threat to US national security is the effects of digital currencies on the US dollar’s position as a reserve currency.
BTC total market cap at $364 billion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com Featured image from CoinEdition, Chart: TradingView.com