RAND Corporation's latest report: Virtual currencies may undermine national sovereignty

The Rand Corporation released a research report in December that detailed some interesting theories about virtual currencies. The report, in PDF format, is about 100 pages long and discusses the various actions that terrorist networks, criminal enterprises, and "non-state actors" among bad elements may take to endanger social stability. The U.S. military and the Department of Homeland Security funded the company to do this research report, titled "The Impact of Virtual Currencies on National Security," and explores how "virtual currencies" (Virtual Currencies) help these international and domestic evil forces.

The RAND report states:

'Non-state actors' can use virtual currencies to undermine sovereignty and enhance political or economic power.

RAND Corporation is a non-profit private research organization that provides reports and structured analysis for the purpose of homeland security for relevant agencies in the United States. In this special report, RAND has made a lot of reasoning on the question of "Why do non-state actors deploy virtual currencies?" and outlined how terrorists and anti-government elements use digital currencies as a means to achieve their goals. Of course, RAND also reminds that some of the strategies provided in the report for law enforcement and security experts should be carefully weighed.

The example given in the report is that political non-state actors can use virtual currencies to undermine the status quo infrastructure, increase their followers and wealth. Virtual currencies allow these people to distribute funds through social media networks, and the report says that some online platforms are "completely resistant to intervention by nation-states." This new technology uses encryption to allow users' assets to avoid government and law enforcement scrutiny. Extremists can also obtain financial support without being noticed, helping them attack nation-states, which may eventually pose a serious threat to national security. The report points out that the use of virtual currencies by terrorists is not yet widespread, but it is undeniable that this situation will change in the future for various reasons.

The report states:

The main purpose of this report is to examine the main challenges that non-state actors (including terrorist organizations) face when using virtual currencies to increase their political, economic or operational gains. Although non-state actors may choose a more standard fiat currency, future changes in people's perception of virtual currencies, especially in terms of trust in virtual currencies as a safe, resilient and usable currency, may greatly increase the adoption of virtual currencies.

After the first two chapters of the report explain in detail what virtual currencies are, the third chapter explores extremist groups that have recently been reported to use digital currencies. They explain that "historically, militants have issued new currencies in an effort to maintain their political and economic control." However, the author points out that this is not widespread and can be ignored. The report also explains what anonymity is and describes the anonymity tool Tor. The report states that

"While using Bitcoin via Tor for anonymity purposes is a controversial topic, recent research suggests that it is possible to 'de-anonymize' Bitcoin users using Tor given the current way Bitcoin is configured.

RAND recommends that the government study this new technology and continue to monitor its activities. The report also talks about miners in virtual currency networks and possible cyber attacks. At the end of the report, the author said: "The challenges raised in this report are all worth studying in the future, especially the development potential of 'non-state actors'." RAND said that the findings and opinions do not necessarily fully reflect the reality. Their report is a theoretical concept by researchers and researchers working together with governments and private foundations to promote the solution of national defense issues.

Original article: http://bitcoinist.net/us-national-security-report-virtual-currencies-can-disrupt-sovereignty/
By Jamie Redman
Translator: printemps
Editor: printemps
Source (translation): Babbitt Information