CIA Deputy Director Calls Bitcoin ‘Another Tool’ in Fight Against China

The deputy director of America's Central Intelligence Agency called Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies "another tool in the toolbox" that the U.S. can use to fight its adversaries in an interview Wednesday. Michael Ellis, who was sworn in as deputy director of the CIA in February, said on crypto influencer Anthony Pompliano's podcast that the agency could use them to position itself against competition like China. "It's another area of technological competition where we need to make sure the United States is very well positioned against China and other adversaries," he said, adding that "Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are another tool in the toolbox" but "also a target." "We can disrupt our adversaries' use of it and we can use these technologies to collect more intelligence, gather more information about them," he said. The U.S. government has taken a friendlier approach towards the digital asset space since crypto-friendly President Donald Trump took office on January 20, scrapping lawsuits against a number of companies in the space and even establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Trump has vowed to make the U.S. "the crypto capital of the world." But skeptics remain wary of its use by criminals and other bad actors to avoid detection by law enforcement. Ellis noted that crypto was among the resources often favored by wrong-doers, such as North Korean hackers, who have been behind a number of major thefts and use apps to obfuscate the movement of funds. "Bad actors whether they're drug cartels or terrorist groups or outlaw regimes use cryptocurrency but they use other tools as well," he said, adding: "Bitcoin is here to stay; cryptocurrency is here to stay, as you know more and more institutions are adopting it and I think that's a great trend." U.S. government agencies frequently work with blockchain data firms to track cybercriminals' use of crypto. The American government currently has more Bitcoin than any other authority in the world, with over 198,000 BTC—$19.2 billion at today's prices —in storage, according to Arkham Intelligence. Most of that crypto has been seized from criminals. Edited by James Rubin