Threat-Assessment: Bitcoin: Danger to the United States? National Security and her Economic & Commercial Interests

One of the problems which have been inhibiting (cyber) criminals and terrorists from unleashing their full potential was the inability to conceal the financing of their operations. All transactions had to be made through the conventional banking system and were subject to scrutiny during this process. This gave Law Enforcement and the Intelligence Community the ability to determine and apprehend suspects due to conspicuous movement of assets flagged – for instance – through the TFTP. Because Bitcoin is transferred peer-2-peer and outside of the realm of the monitored banking apparatus, this ability has been circumvented. It is therefore safe to assume that criminals and terrorists will start to increasingly take advantage of this possibility of fund transfer to finance their operations.