Cryptocurrencies would not exist without the protocols and architecture developed by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA). Most histories of cryptocurrencies go back to a 1974 document by Vinton G. Cerf, originally called “A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication,” which describes all of the features of cryptocurrencies including packet switching, routing, a decentralized network, and error correction. While Cerf’s work was done on the campus of Stanford University, he was an employee of DARPA. In 1976 the NSA worked with IBM to develop the algorithm used in the Data Encryption Standard (DES), which was published by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards, making the U.S. the first government in the world to publish a cryptographic algorithm. In 1996 the NSA published a document, “How To Make a Mint”, an instruction manual for a peer to peer electronic cash system, which was closely mirrored by a 2008 Bitcoin white paper titled, “Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System”. Some suggest that Bitcoin’s white paper was written by the CIA, since the author seems to be fictitious and his name, Satoshi Nakamoto, translates into “central intelligence.” The NSA and Bitcoin even share the same algorithm, “SHA-256,” an algorithm developed by the NSA around 2001 to create a unique fingerprint for any piece of data, which is now used for Bitcoin mining.
Wall Street interests, including BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street are aiming to control cryptocurrency mining, exchanges, and assets. The world’s intelligence services love cryptocurrencies for the ability to operate “off the books.” International criminal gangs love it in order to hide their profits. Are there any legitimate roles for crypto?
