This report examines the feasibility for non-state actors, including terrorist and insurgent groups, to increase their political and/or economic power by deploying a virtual currency (VC) for use in ...regular economic transactions. This report should be of interest to policymakers interested in technology, counterterrorism, and intelligence and law enforcement issues, as well as for VC and cybersecurity researchers.
This study draws lessons regarding technological countermeasures to radioactive contamination caused by the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant accident. It focuses on contamination measurement, ...efforts to limit dispersal, decontamination, and storage of radioactive materials. The report analyzes technological successes and identifies capability gaps that could be redressed through novel technologies or improved use of existing technologies.
In this chapter, we examine the technical challenges that a non-state actor might face when deploying a VC. These challenges could potentially be leveraged by opponents, such as the United States, to ...impede the success of the non-state actor’s VC deployment. Some of these technical challenges relate to ensuring that a VC deployment is widespread and usable enough for everyday financial transactions (e.g., buying a soda at the corner store), while other challenges relate to securing a VC deployment so that it is trusted for everyday use. In addition, any entity deploying a VC needs to ensure resilience of the
Introduction Joshua Baron; Angela O’Mahony; David Manheim ...
National Security Implications of Virtual Currency,
12/2015
Book Chapter
Odprti dostop
With the introduction and growing conversation about Bitcoin, interest in virtual currencies (VCs) has dramatically increased.¹ This interest is diverse across many communities: from venture ...capitalists to cybersecurity academics to economists. In addition, organized groups and governments have explored or adopted VCs for a variety of legitimate and illegitimate purposes, albeit with mixed success. Today, the utility of VCs, both in the near and long term, remains the subject of intense debate.
A VC, when issued as a currency for everyday transactions, requires considerably less new physical infrastructure than government-backed currencies in broad use today. VCs, however, also require a
The Current State of Virtual Currencies Joshua Baron; Angela O’Mahony; David Manheim ...
National Security Implications of Virtual Currency,
12/2015
Book Chapter
Odprti dostop
This chapter provides an introduction to VCs that we build on in the rest of the report. It may be of independent interest as a primer on VCs for the interested reader. We first examine the economic ...progression to VCs in order to understand them from a social-science perspective. We then examine the current technological state-of-the-art of VCs and introduce the main currencies, most notably Bitcoin. Finally, we briefly highlight current non-state actor use of VCs.
We briefly examine here the historical evolution of currencies, from gold to VCs, to ascertain the reasons motivating a VC’s use. As a motivation
Implications Beyond Currency Joshua Baron; Angela O’Mahony; David Manheim ...
National Security Implications of Virtual Currency,
12/2015
Book Chapter
Odprti dostop
Previous chapters in this report examined the potential challenges associated with the deployment of VCs by non-state actors as currency. We now examine the broader technological implications of VC ...development, particularly in the context of national security. While there has been much public discussion about applications of the Bitcoin blockchain technology for future finance-related technology advances,¹ our interests in this subject are broader and include: (1) direct implications of Bitcoin-style block-chain technology, (2) how VC development might result in greater cryptographic sophistication of previously unsophisticated actors, and (3) how VCs may spell the beginning of an era in which low-sophistication
