CIA Confirms Long-Term Relevance of Bitcoin—What This Means for Crypto

• Michael Jayellis of the CIA has hinted that Bitcoin is here to stay, as he confirms a global competition to dominate the asset.  
• According to him, crypto could be used to gather information and disrupt the plans of the US adversaries. 

The deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Michael Jayellis, has confirmed the “evergreen nature” of Bitcoin, claiming it is here to stay.

Speaking in an interview with crypto advocate Anthony Pompliano, Jayellis noted that “more and more” institutions have found interest in Bitcoin, adopting it for their various solutions. Fascinatingly, he also agreed that the asset has evolved to become part of the global technological competition, with several countries joining the race to stay ahead of the trend.

Jayellis is not the only high-profile US figure who has pointed out the global Bitcoin competition. The executive director for the US President’s Council of Advisers for Digital Assets, Bo Hines, has also disclosed that countries are racing to dominate in their acquisition.

As featured in our recent news coverage, Hines believes that the decentralized origin and the longevity of Bitcoin have significantly influenced its adoption. With this, both individuals expect the US to emerge as the Bitcoin superpower of the world, ahead of the likes of China.

Highlighting some of the benefits of crypto, Jayellis disclosed that it could be used to track the plans of US adversaries. Above all, he hinted that “Bitcoin is a tool used by the CIA”.

We can use these technologies to collect more intelligence to gather more information about them.

With this, Jayellis disclosed that the CIA was fully in support of US President Donald Trump’s directive to eliminate cartel threats. According to him, this could be effectively and seamlessly achieved by using crypto intelligence.

Previous Involvement with Crypto

In a 2021 report, CIA Director William Burns confirmed that they are working on some crypto projects started by the previous deputy director, David Cohen. At that time, he highlighted that the Agency would recruit a crypto expert to its team of intelligence analysts, intensifying the rumours that it could be involved in Bitcoin’s creation.

These rumours escalated following reports that a renowned Bitcoin developer, Gavin Andresen, visited the CIA in 2011 for a discussion related to the asset. According to reports, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, left the crypto community soon after. In another report, Andresen was noted to have expressed concerns on his visit to the CIA.

I’m only slightly worried that talking about Bitcoin at the CIA will increase the chances they’ll try to do something we don’t want them to do. I think accepting their invitation and being open about exactly what bitcoin is will make it less likely they’ll see it as a threat.

Following Jayellis’ interview, Bitcoin recorded a 0.8% surge on its 24-hour price chart and a 3.4% surge on its weekly chart, trading at $95k at press time.

As discussed earlier, analysts believe that Bitcoin could soon hit $100k with five key charts supporting this move. Similarly, Standard Chartered has predicted that Bitcoin could hit $500k, as also featured in our last analysis.