The U.S. Department of State has put out an offer for a bounty in crypto up to the tune of $10 million in exchange for actionable information on cyberattacks that are carried out by foreign governments. This will be the first time that the U.S. government has embraced the use of cryptocurrencies to pay for services rendered.
The offer was made through the U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program, administered by the Diplomatic Security Service. Since certain cyber operations targeting United States critical infrastructure might violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (FCAA), the Department of State is trying to get in front of the attacks before they occur.
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These attacks include and are not limited to transmitting extortion threats as part of ransomware attacks, intentional unauthorized access to a computer, or exceeding authorized access. In which case, the attacker would obtain information from a protected computer, which they can use to transmit a program, information, code, or command. And thus, use that access to cause damage to a protected computer.
How Will The Ransom Be Paid
The U.S. Department of State explained that they had set up a tips-reporting channel using the Dark Web (Tor-based) in order to ensure the safety and security of sources and make sure they are protected.
The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program is also working with other agency partners in order to ensure the privacy of the information and make sure the information coming in is processed in a timely manner.
Total crypto market cap trails $1.24T | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on TradingView.com
To ensure this, the U.S. Department of State has also stated that the reward payments may also include payments in cryptocurrency. This is not a stretch as a good way to ensure the privacy of the reporters would be to pay in digital assets, as this will ensure that the attackers cannot track who the payments were made to.
A report from CoinDesk writes that a State Department spokesperson had confirmed that this would be the first time that the program would offer payment in crypto.
This marks the first time since its establishment in 1984 that the Rewards for Justice program has offered a reward payment in cryptocurrency.
The U.S. Government And Crypto Going Forward
The offer of possible payment in digital assets by the Rewards for Justice program shows that crypto adoption is headed in the right direction in the industry.
One problem that has been in the crypto space is the fact that governments have been so strongly against digital currencies. Crypto trading is banned in a lot of countries.
Recently, China carried out a massive crackdown on mining in the country, which happens to be the mining capital of the world, with over 70% of mining done in the country. And in the same streak, the government had ordered banks and financial institutions to stop enabling trading of crypto in the country.
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But news of El Salvador making bitcoin a legal tender and other countries showing interest in doing the same has shown that crypto adoption is becoming more and more a reality.
Politicians in the U.S. government have also started showing support for the coin. U.S. Mayor Scott Conger posted on his Twitter account that he believed that bitcoin would help to fix inflation.
And with the U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program offering payment for services in crypto, there is no doubt that the general attitude towards crypto in the government is slowly but surely changing.
Featured image from International Banker, chart from TradingView.com
