A Beijing-based educator whose lecture predicting a US–Iran conflict went viral is now attracting attention for a separate claim that Bitcoin may have been created by the US military as a surveillance system.
Jiang Xueqin, a Yale graduate who runs the “Predictive History” channel, has gained renewed visibility online after media outlets revisited his earlier geopolitical forecasts during the current Middle East tensions.
In one of his older lectures, Jiang argued that Bitcoin was “a construct of the American military of the Pentagon” and described it as “designed as the ultimate surveillance technology.”
He bases the claim on several points, including Bitcoin’s anonymous creator, the resources required to develop a global blockchain network, and the US military’s history of funding breakthrough technologies.
Jiang also pointed to the role of the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency in developing ARPANET, the precursor to the modern internet, and suggested similar state involvement could explain Bitcoin’s origins.
He further argued that the cryptocurrency’s public ledger could enable authorities to track behaviour and even finance covert operations, saying the system could function as a tool for intelligence agencies.
Despite the speculation, no public evidence links Bitcoin’s creation to the Pentagon, DARPA, or the CIA, and most analysts say the theory reflects conjecture rather than a substantiated explanation of the cryptocurrency’s origins.
At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $70,209.54.