Silicon Valley and Wall Street are paying close attention to the omission of cryptocurrency & blockchain from the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy (NSS). The NSS stresses the need for the United States to exert considerable influence over technology, including the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Biotech and Quantum Computer Technologies, while deliberately neglecting Cryptocurrency/Blockchain Technologies. This is raising speculation among policy analysts and industry experts about whether this will enable other countries, such as China, to gain an advantage in the area of Digital Finance as they develop their own digital currencies using State-backed systems. The lack of a clear strategy from the United States regarding the use of Blockchain Technology is also a signal that the United States may have taken a more conservative and/or disenchanted stance than previously indicated regarding Blockchain Technology.
The “Big Three” Take Center Stage
The administration’s strategy document leaves little room for ambiguity regarding its priorities. It explicitly identifies artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and quantum computing as the “core technologies” essential for maintaining U.S. hegemony in the 21st century.
“We want to ensure that U.S. technology and U.S. standards—particularly in AI, biotech, and quantum computing—drive the world forward,” the document states. This statement emphasizes a firm commitment to develop global standards associated with these subject areas, emphasizing that, in addition to serving as economic engines, they serve as national security assets. The administration is essentially betting on the belief that the next major rivalries between the superpowers will occur in quantum labs and bioscience laboratories and not on the technology of blockchain.
A Deafening Silence on Digital Assets
The exclusion of cryptocurrency is particularly jarring given President Trump’s vocal history on the subject. During his campaign, he continually characterized the fight for control of cryptocurrency assets as a contest between the United States and China to dominate the virtual currency Bitcoin, promising that Bitcoin and all virtual currencies would be “Made in America” in the future. Conversely, the National Security Strategy (NSS) for 2025 does not appear to directly reference Bitcoin, blockchain, or DeFi (decentralized finance) anywhere in the document. While the document contains broad allusions to preserving the dominance of the U.S. financial sector, it stops short of integrating cryptocurrencies into that vision. This gap creates significant ambiguity. It is unclear, without an established policy, how the administration views digital currencies as either a strategic asset to be cultivated or as an uncertain risk to be handled quietly.
PolitiFi Slump and Market Realities
Analysts suggest that this strategic pivot may be a reaction to recent market realities. The enthusiasm that once surrounded “PolitiFi”—tokens and assets loosely or directly affiliated with political figures—has cooled significantly.
Recent market data indicates a sharp decline in the trading values of several Trump-affiliated cryptocurrencies and related digital assets. The degree of volatility in international security issues may have been one factor which the Administration considered when deciding to separate its formal security doctrine from a sector that remains very susceptible to boom and bust cycles. By concentrating on “harder” science, such as quantum computing or biotech, it likely intends to establish a basis for its future national security policy using those types of technologies, which are considered to have a greater likelihood of stability and therefore, provide a greater amount of direct application to military use.
The Mining Dominance Disconnect
The Bitcoin mining industry has perhaps the most visible divide between what the public hears thrown around in speeches vs actual words cited on paper. As an example, President Trump has spoken openly about his desire to “have the dominance of Bitcoin mining take place inside the United States” and believes energy dominance and hash rate are very much tied together.
However, the NSS does not formalize this ambition. There is no language designating mining infrastructure as critical to national security, nor are there plans to protect it from foreign adversarial influence in the same way the CHIPS Act protects semiconductors. This divergence leaves the mining industry in a precarious position—encouraged by verbal support but unprotected by official doctrine.
China’s Digital March Continues
The risks associated with the absence of this include; however, they do not only apply to domestic policy. While the United States is in the process of deliberation, China continues with its Blockchain based Service Network (BSN) and digital currency project called the Digital Yuan. These two products form a digital finance infrastructure which is independent of the US Dollar by incorporating blockchain technology and utilizing the BSN to support various aspects of the belt and road initiative.
Observers warn that ignoring this frontier in a primary security strategy could be a tactical error. “If the U.S. focuses solely on AI and quantum while ignoring the financial rails of the future, we risk winning the technology race but losing the economic war,” noted one digital finance policy expert.
A Strategy in Flux?
How permanent or temporary this exclusion will be is still unknown. Various people can interpret the Donald Trump Administration’s announcement to not include cryptocurrency in their overall National Security Strategy in numerous fashions. This could mean that the administration intends to take a wait and see approach or it may mean that they feel like it should be up to private industry to continue to push innovation within the cryptocurrency market without interference from the Government. Stakeholders within the Digital Finance World will now be left guessing what changes may take place. Will future executive orders fill this gap, or has the administration decided that for now, the national security apparatus has bigger fish to fry? For an industry that craved legitimacy, being left out of the nation’s most important security document is a sobering reality check.
