Ex-CIA Director Says Embracing BTC Is A Matter Of National Security

Ex-CIA director Michael Morel says that using bitcoin is a matter of national security as we are about to read more In our latest BTC news.

The ex-CIA director Michael Morel accepted that BTC is full of illicit activity and how the attitude is determined to retain technological supremacy. He disputed the narrative, however. In an independent paper, Morell’s research led to a conclusion that the generalization of illicit activity is overstated and added that blockchain analysis serves as a good method of fighting crime and to gather intelligence as well.

I hope this study will help advance a transparent and fact-based dialogue between innovators and policymakers to help ensure that we maintain national security without hindering the adoption of potentially revolutionary technologies.
https://t.co/m7wawVVPcV

— Michael Morell (@MichaelJMorell) April 13, 2021

Before embarking on the study, Morell admitted that the mainstream narratives like those pushed by the US Treasury Sec Janet Yellen and Christine Lagarde already swayed his bias towards an anti-BTC position. However, in evaluating data from Chainalysis, Morell soon realized there was more illicit activity in traditional finance than Bitcoin:

 “Just the opposite, that [bitcoin and crypto] weren’t rife with illicit activity. In fact, there was probably less illicit activity in the Bitcoin ecosystem than there is in the traditional banking system.”

He noted that the data shows less than 1% of the BTC activity relates to criminality and what’s more this figure dropped since 2012. Kim Grauer who is the Head of Research at Chainalysis noted that cryptos hold a reputation for anonymity but implied that BTC makes for a poor way to hide criminality:

 “But because transactions involving cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are recorded on a permanent, public, and immutable ledger, cryptocurrencies can actually offer unprecedented transparency into financial transactions.”

Bitcoin is described as a pseudo-anonymous network and while anyone can operate a suitable wallet without having to provide KYC information as on/off ramping can trail links between wallet and identities. Morell noted that misconceptions about criminality and BTC are major factors in the US authorities failing to embrace cryptocurrencies and blockchain in general. He warned that this attitude which can lead to losing the war with China. He noted:

“We need to make sure that the conventional wisdom that is wrong about the illicit use of Bitcoin doesn’t hold us back from pushing forward the technological changes that are going to allow us to keep pace with China.”

China restricted its citizens from trading crypto but its leadership still encourages blockchain projects.