The United States government is already mining bitcoin according to industry insider and government advisor, Whit Gibbs, CEO of Compass Mining.
In a Dec 1 interview on Anthony Pompliano’s Best Business Show, Gibbs and Pompliano were discussing the nation-states which are mining BTC. While El Salvador is openly mining the cryptocurrency, most countries remain more tight-lipped about their bitcoin mining activities. Pompliano went on to name Venezuala as another nation that was mining digital gold before asking Gibbs what it would take for the US to start mining.
At that point, Gibbs confidently declared that “The United States is already mining…” before correcting himself and belatedly adding the word, “maybe.”
Maybe mining bitcoin
The crypto mining expert went on to add, “They might have 10-20 watts running somewhere in the midwest to test it out. Maybe. It’s hypothetically speaking,” he said with a knowing smile, “but it’s a matter of national security.”
If Gibbs intended to pour cold water on his previous statement that the U.S. government was already mining, what he said next did nothing to aid his cause.
It is the future financial instrument that many, many things are going to be built on top of. Nations would have to be absolutely out of their mind to not be getting some exposure to the underlying infrastructure which supports it. So the US I think is on the front foot. We’ve had a lot of conversations with the government in DC [and] state governments to help educate them, but they are very forward-thinking when it comes to supporting this.
Shifting the topic of conversation Gibbs went on to add that bitcoin mining will be a great method for developing nations to level up. The c-level executive went on to explain that the moves being made in El Salvador will prove themselves wise over the course of the next 20-30 years.
A risky game
Sensing that Gibbs was ready to spill the beans, Pompliano invited Gibbs to join him in a game of ‘story poker’ before sharing details of a U.S. government law enforcement agency that was involved in bitcoin mining.
According to Pompliano the agency in question discovered that it was difficult to get budgetary approval to buy bitcoin, but that by adding additional computers to their budget, they could mine their own BTC for use in undercover operations. Pompliano claimed that a former agent had told him that this secret mining had been going on since as early as 2013.
Pompliano then invited Gibbs to share another story with his viewers. It was at this point that Gibbs declared, “This is how you get in trouble.”