July 17, 2023
America Is Missing a Big Opportunity on Blockchain
Over the past year, with high-profile cases of fraud plaguing cryptocurrency ventures such asFTX and Terra Luna, financial regulators around the world have aggressively looked to rein in bad actors in the crypto-asset marketplace. But some policymakers also seem to have dismissed blockchain—the decentralized digital ledgers that serve as the foundation for cryptocurrencies. The White House has followed suit. In March, the Economic Report of the President devoted 30 pages to arguing against any positive use of cryptocurrencies and the technologies behind them. Some of Washington, it seems, has a one-dimensional strategy for blockchain: Stay away from it.
China and Russia, in their quest to combat U.S. economic power, are developing and implementing blockchain-based digital ecosystems.
Yet it’s myopic for the Biden administration to dismiss blockchain outright. Fundamentally, blockchain is a technology that enables data to be verified and transmitted dynamically across networks rather than through single, linear points of transmission. That technology cannot be ignored at a time when data—and how it is maintained and leveraged—has become critical for technological advancement and strategic global competition.
Read the full article from Foreign Policy.
More from CNAS
-
No Grid, No Glory: What History Teaches Us About the Next Major War
Commentary
This article was originally published on The National Interest.The Trump Administration’s new National Security Strategy goes to great lengths to do what every good strategist...
By Will Rogers
-
Breaking the Rare Earths Dependency with Chris Kennedy
Podcast
Geoff sits down with Chris Kennedy to unpack the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy and debate what it will take for the United States to overcome its dependenc...
By Geoffrey Gertz, Emily Kilcrease & Chris Kennedy
-
Commentary
Energy, Economics & Security / Technology & National Security
Recommendations for Promoting American AI AbroadStrategic Context and Program Objectives The American AI Exports Program is an ambitious and essential proposal to expand the reach of American AI technologies in foreign mar...
By Janet Egan, Geoffrey Gertz, Daniel Remler & Ruby Scanlon
-
Rational Security: The “Adverse Possession” Edition
Podcast
This week, Scott sat down with Lawfare Managing Editor Tyler McBrien and Contributing Editor and CNAS adjunct senior fellow Alex Zerden to talk through a few of the week’s big...
By Alex Zerden
