Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 21, 2026 that Bitcoin should be understood not merely as a speculative asset, but as a valuable computer science tool with implications for national power and cybersecurity. His remarks reframed BTC around its underlying architecture—cryptography, blockchain, and proof-of-work—rather than market price, and suggested that these systems may matter in both defensive and offensive cyber contexts. The hearing also linked Bitcoin to U.S.-China strategic competition, with Sen. Tommy Tuberville pointing to Chinese research assessing BTC as a potential reserve asset. Paparo’s comments arrived alongside broader U.S. policy shifts, including President Donald Trump’s March 6, 2025 executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve funded by seized BTC, and congressional support for the BITCOIN Act backed by Tuberville and Sen. Cynthia Lummis, which proposes that the Treasury acquire up to 1 million BTC over time. Together, these developments suggest Bitcoin is increasingly being evaluated not only as a financial instrument, but as strategic infrastructure, a reserve candidate, and a technology with national security relevance.