The Significance of Bitcoin (BTC) for National Power

As a brainchild of the “Fourth Industrial Revolution,” the rise of Bitcoin (BTC) represents a watershed in the long-term historical evolution of money. In fact, BTC is much more than just virtual cash. In an age of increasing worldwide financialization and digitalization, the disruptive nature of this cryptocurrency is determined by its condition as an unofficial, pseudonymous, decentralized, permissionless, trustless, and nonstate monetary unit, which flows through unsupervised and borderless circuits. Although BTC started as a marginal phenomenon, its incremental proliferation has reached a substantial degree of international projection. In this regard, it is pertinent to identify the strategic significance and implications of BTC for national power in statesmanship, especially in a context in which the behavior of the vectors, vehicles, and networks that fuel “complex interdependence” is heavily influenced by the logic of Realpolitik. In order to clarify the contemporary and prospective usefulness of BTC for state power in the field of high politics, this chapter presents an integrative analytical scrutiny of both strategic forecasts and empirical examples. This assessment has been conceived not just as an academic work of geopolitical scholarship, but also as a contribution whose lessons and insights can be instrumental for the upgrade of foreign policy, national security, grand strategy, economic statecraft, and intelligence.