Multiple agencies of the United States government are currently being advised about possible impacts to national security by Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies such as Steemit. What is the reasoning behind this effort you ask?
The "Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance in Washington, DC" has been tasked with determining how state-sponsored and other bad-actors might use cryptocurrencies to avoid sanctions.
"US National Security Advisor: Bitcoin Needs to Be Understood, Not Feared"
See: http://www.coindesk.com/us-national-security-advisor-bitcoin-needs-to-be-understood-not-feared/
Obviously, there are legitimate concerns from fearful perspectives. However, fear is not the only viewpoint, and people often simply fear the unknown. But the truly bad actors to be concerned about, in my opinion, are the state-sponsored bad-actors; governments that propagate war-debt and enslavement generally via fractional reserve currencies. The few benefiting from and to the detriment of the many. I think Big Brother (ultimately these same factions) are scared of the possibilities the future holds for them, but that unknown future also holds the promise of our collective, liberation, freedom and prosperity too. Could this be the elements that the old system are afraid of?
I smell a deep-state as if anonymous hacker rat. The release into the wild of the NSA deep-state tools that compromise Windows, as well as the banking systems Swift system is timed to coincide with the timing of the government considering cryptocurrency as a threat, coincidence?
Let's not forget that nearly a month before the WannaCry ransomware attack there was/is the Adylkuzz cryptocurrency-mining malware which makes it easy for cyber-actors to make lots of money, and how did this come to be? It was the NSA tools leak etc. so who is at fault and the real threat here? Sure cyber criminals are taking advantage, but who gave them the tools they are using?
Adylkuzz is very likely to be larger in scale than WannaCry, and rather than using encryption-extortion it steals resources as a huge cryptocurrency mining botnet. It is programmed to block SMB ports of the compromised unpatched computer after hijacking it, meaning it closes SMB ports to prevent further infections (Adylkuzz says this is my hijacked computer stay out this is my stolen money making box).
Inadvertently, a computer infected with Adylkuzz prevented who knows how many thousands or hundreds of thousands of computers from getting hacked by WannaCry ransomware as well. Not that I am in support of Adylkuzz, just pointing out facts here. And if hundreds of thousands of computer are mining who are the beneficiaries of this illicit activity? Hopefully the anonymous unscrupulous will be unmasked.
See: http://thehackernews.com/2017/05/smb-exploit-cryptocurrency-mining.html
Bitcoin as of today breaks $1,900 so now it's only $100 from doubling this year alone. Microsoft and others in officialdom have announced embracing supporting code for Etherium. Meanwhile, 10 more global banks in addition to 47 global banks on board for pilot programs to test the waters have warmed up to Ripple/XRP. Also, it is no small thing that Germany’s former Minster of Defense is an advisor to Ripple. See:
http://www.coindesk.com/ripple-pledges-lock-14-billion-xrp-cryptocurrency/
It seems clear that the banks now realize that it is time to get on board with the blockchain or get left behind. The advancements related to the blockchain are too many to fit into one conversation or article, even a very long one!
"The US Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) revealed a new fintech initiative today that will find the regulator seeking to increase its participation in the ongoing global R&D effort related to blockchain and distributed ledger tech."
http://www.coindesk.com/cftc-2-0-us-regulator-plans-step-blockchain-rd/
Talk about a mixed bag, to me one thing is sure, people are fed up with the deep-state BS and flatulent fake news purveyors.
Daily the light is shining into their darknet corners bringing their very naughty behavior to the light of day. Hopefully, it will lead to their entry into a dark cell eventually too.
There is a lot to wrap your mind around that is involved, for instance, take what ex-CIA good-guy and Nobel Prize nominee Robert David Steel has to say about what is going on:
And the narrative is controlled by whom you ask? Me too, is someone really in control or do they just think they are? Goodbye facebook hello Steemit, watch out Google and Amazon (as well as many others too) you're next, after creating such bad-blood, in various ways as concerns your users, (maybe soon to be ex-users).
For instance:
Confirmed: NSA has broken into Google, Yahoo data centers and now monitors all web searches, Gmail
http://www.naturalnews.com/042744_National_Security_Agency_technology_companies_data_center_surveillance.html
Over 36,000 Computers Infected with NSA's DoublePulsar Malware
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/over-36-000-computers-infected-with-nsas-doublepulsar-malware/
Shadow Brokers Group Releases More Stolen NSA Hacking Tools and Exploits
http://thehackernews.com/2017/04/nsa-hacking-tools.html
And the narrative goes on...