--- title: "Space Force Major Says Countries Should Have Crypto-Mining Contests Instead of Going to War" description: "A Space Force official has some bold military advice for the Pentagon: make crypto, not war. Could this idea really work?" date: "2023-04-02" modified: "2023-04-02" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/space-force-major-crypto-war" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" - "Space" - "Space Force" tags: - "bitcoin" - "crypto" - "crypto mining" - "the digest" --- # Space Force Major Says Countries Should Have Crypto-Mining Contests Instead of Going to War ![A Space Force official has some bold military advice for the Pentagon: make crypto, not war. Could this idea really work?]() *Conceptual image of nuclear explosion reflection in eye \Image: Getty Images\* ## Bitcoin Army A Space Force official has some bold military advice for the Pentagon: make crypto, not war. As [*Politico* reports](), a lengthy thesis project by Jason Lowery, a Space Force major who also happens to be a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has [become a best-seller]() since it was released as a book last month. The thesis' thesis? You guessed it: that the future of global military moves lies in crypto mining. The 400-page academic document titled "Softwar: A Novel Theory on Power Projection and the National Strategic Significance of Bitcoin" features, for cryptic reasons, a buck skull on its cover and has [become selfie fodder]() for [soft power types](). Given its main thrust, it's not hard to see why. Lowery argues in "Softwar" for the Proof of Work protocol, the consensus mechanism that underpins Bitcoin that uses high-powered processors to verify ownership of a given coin. Specifically, he argues that if governments can get into uber-competitive PoW competitions (no, [not that one]()), they can avoid other competitions such as, say, traditional warfare. ## Metaphorically Speaking The antlers on the cover of the book, *Politico* notes, are a metaphor Lowery uses because they represent the kind of global competition he sees going down if govs get into crypto mining: macho battles of will like those between stags, that ultimately leave both parties without huge amounts of bodily harm. In the antler metaphor, the winner of these mining stag battles would attain a predetermined quantity of tokens and also the rights to publish the next block of transactions. While we can't help but laud Lowery for this imaginative conception of a world without traditional war, there's one gaping hole in his theory: that [crypto mining is extremely bad for the environment]() and that experts have long predicted that further environmental degradation will [catalyze worsening wars]() and [violent conflicts]() (and [vice versa]()). It would, indubitably, be great if humans stopped killing each other over political squabbles — but if we keep on killing the Earth the way we are, those kinds of conflicts are foregone conclusions regardless of whether militaries decide to get into crypto. **More on crypto mining:** *[Nvidia Wishes People Would Stop Using Its GPUs to Mine Worthless Crypto]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()