A wide range of conspiracy theories about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have been making rounds online since the introduction of digital assets. But while most of them remained as speculations, an investigative journalist confirmed that Bitcoin or crypto, in general, promoting utopian ideals would be of interest to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Author and investigative journalist Annie Jacobson, known for her works on topics covering intelligence, national security, government secrecy and military technology, answered some interesting questions about cryptocurrency during a recent episode of the podcast Banless hosted by David Hoffman and Ryan Adams.

"Military technology is the foundation" for cryptocurrency, Jacobson said in the podcast.

During the discussion, the investigative journalist mentioned groups promoting a version of utopia that can pose a serious threat to the country's security.

"Any organization that alleges utopian ideals is of incredible interest to both the military and the intelligence community," Jacobsen noted, adding that Bitcoin - and its campaign of a leaderless, trustless, permissionless utopian economic vision - would be of interest to the CIA.

"No utopia ever ends up the way it was intended," the journalist underlined, citing the example of Che Guevara, who she claimed was killed by the CIA to shield Americans from a violent anti-U.S. utopian belief.

According to Jacobson, intelligence agencies must always be ahead of other technologies and since the cryptocurrency industry is new and popular, she speculated that it is most likely being investigated by various intelligence agencies including the CIA, DARPA, NSA and other law enforcement agencies like the FBI.

"With almost certainty, I would say cryptocurrency is looked at by the intelligence community as a non-state actor, which is a little bit dangerous, even adversarial, for those of you in that community," she said.

During a talk at the Wall Street Journal's CEO Summit in December 2021, CIA Director William Burns revealed that the intelligence agency has "a number of different projects focused on cryptocurrency."

He added that the projects are "something I inherited. My predecessor had started this, but had set in motion a number of different projects focused on cryptocurrency and trying to look at second- and third-order consequences as well as helping our colleagues in other parts of the U.S. government to provide solid intelligence on what we're seeing as well."

CIA Director William Burns speaks during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 15, 2021. Tasos Katopodis/Pool via
CIA Director William Burns speaks during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 15, 2021. Tasos Katopodis/Pool via Reuters / POOL
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