A proposal for a new cybersecurity tool has been presented to the Pentagon by an active-duty United States Space Force astronautical engineer, and it involves Bitcoin. In his master’s degree thesis, Major Jason Lowery argued that Bitcoin is more than just a peer-to-peer payment system and is, in fact, a new form of digital-age warfare. According to Lowery’s research, the armed forces could utilize Bitcoin as a means of thwarting specific types of cyber attacks, like denial-of-service attacks, that overwhelm servers with excessive requests. He also recommends the creation of software programs that only respond to signals from large transactions recorded on the Bitcoin network to prevent adversaries from gaining control over them.
Moreover, Lowery suggests that the United States should accumulate Bitcoin, establish a Bitcoin mining industry within the country, and provide legal safeguards for the technology. He believes that Bitcoin is a self-defense weapon that should be protected as other rights are. Lowery’s thesis, entitled “Softwar,” has received significant attention, with it currently sitting in third position on Amazon’s list of best-selling technology books.