The INDOPACOM commander revealed that U.S. armed forces operate a node on the Bitcoin network and are conducting operational tests on its cryptographic architecture.
The United States military is actively running a Bitcoin node. The confirmation comes from Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), during a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee. This marks the first known official confirmation that a U.S. combatant command is directly participating in Bitcoin’s peer-to-peer network.
Paparo’s words were straightforward: “We have a node on the Bitcoin network. We are conducting a series of operational tests to protect networks using the Bitcoin protocol.” The statement came the day after his Senate testimony, in which the admiral had already framed Bitcoin as a tool of American power.
On April 21, Paparo testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing on the defense authorization for fiscal year 2027. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) asked him whether American leadership on Bitcoin could give the country an advantage over China in the Indo-Pacific theater. Paparo did not sidestep the question: “Our research on Bitcoin is about Bitcoin as a computing tool. It is the combination of cryptography, a blockchain, and a proof of work. And Bitcoin shows incredible potential as a computing tool that, through proof-of-work protocols, imposes a greater cost than simple algorithmic protection of networks and our operational capability.”
The admiral described Bitcoin as “a peer-to-peer, zero-trust value transfer”, adding that “anything that supports all the tools of national power of the United States of America is a good thing.” Significant is what Paparo did not say: no reference to Bitcoin as a store of value, a payment system, or a speculative instrument. The framing was exclusively that of a computing system with direct military relevance — a distinction that sharply sets his remarks apart from most official government commentary.
