US Should Encourage Blockchain Investments, Says Former Defense Official

The US should promote investments in blockchain-based solutions as part of a broader fight against cyberthreats, a former US Defense Department official has said.

Eric Rosenbach, in testimony before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this week, said that government agencies and private-sector businesses should collaborate to "incentivize investment in cloud-based security, blockchain-enabled transactions and quantum computing", according to a published draft of his remarks.

"As I mentioned, reducing the benefits that adversaries derive from cyber and information operations is a key aspect of bolstering our deterrence posture," he told the committee.

Rosenbach most recently served as US Secretary of the Army, a position within the Department of Defense, between May 2016 and January 2017, leaving his post when President Barack Obama exited office that month. He previously served as a chief of staff to the Secretary of Defense, as well as a stint as Secretary of the Air Force.

He's not the only one to call for such actions, but in a way, some of that work has already advanced in the past year.

Last month, Lockheed Martin, one of the largest US defense contracts, announced it is incorporating blockchain into its supply chain operation as part of a cybersecurity initiative.

The US Department of Homeland Security has doled out a number of grants of as part of a push toward, and in January, the government-backed National Science Foundation revealed that it wants to spend millions of dollars fueling research in this area.

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