Why Is The CIA Mining Into The World Of Cryptocurrencies?

How much do you think the United States Central Intelligence Agency knows about cryptocurrencies and how they are being used? If your answer is "probably a lot," you are absolutely correct. According to a recent news report published by The Wall Street Journal, CIA Director William Burns has admitted that his agency has been gathering strategic information about digital currencies for a while, and that his predecessor had supported various projects to this effect.

Director Burns added that gathering intelligence on cryptocurrency operations is currently a CIA priority, particularly with regard to investigating and mitigating ransomware attacks. Blockchain analysis could yield important data about major cybercrime groups, and following this information down the rabbit hole could shine a light on associations to terrorism organizations as well as cyber warfare adversaries.

The CIA has already demonstrated that it can be creative in taking advantage of emerging technology. During the U.S. invasion of Iraq, for example, the CIA was able to control the flow of digital news media to a certain extent. The Wall Street Journal article notes that Director Burns has acknowledged the importance of cryptocurrencies in the global economy, particularly for individuals operating anonymously, and it has mentioned various blockchain implementations and the ability for the CIA to analyze and gain intelligence from them.

While this is still quite a mystery in our own minds, we also noticed that the article stated that Director Burns is one of the many people who are advocating for a more stable crypto market, and we're just as surprised as you are.

So will that mean that the CIA will be getting into the mining and trading aspect of it? Will the intelligence agency be creating their own Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash? Can it be said that they'll be the only agency to gain an upper hand in the cryptocurrency field? If that's the case, then why doesn't the Pentagon jump on board? What's their plan for making a foothold in the crypto market? Or is it as simple as their intention to gain access to any information and data that it may hold for them?

Cryptocurrency trading is not something the CIA is interested in, nor in general should they be. Cryptocurrencies serve primarily as a technology to store money in a way that is difficult to trace; this is what the CIA is mostly interested in.