Bitcoin community questions U.S. military's understanding of Bitcoin: General criticized for "reading Wikipedia"

Gold Financial reports that on April 26, after a senior U.S. military official told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that the U.S. government runs a Bitcoin node, several members of the Bitcoin community questioned the U.S. government’s understanding of the Bitcoin network. Admiral Samuel Paparo of the U.S. Navy told the Senate Armed Services Committee, “Our research on Bitcoin is to treat it as a computer science tool. It is a combination of cryptography, blockchain, and proof of work.”
Bitcoin educator and advocate Matthew Kratter said that the admiral sounded like he was reading from a Bitcoin “Wikipedia page,” casting doubt on Paparo and Senator Tommy Tuberville’s understanding of the protocol. Kratter added, “It’s actually quite embarrassing. These two are talking about something they don’t understand themselves. When he says it’s a way to ‘project power,’ or that it’s a ‘computer science tool,’ he never really explains what he means.” Kratter then said, “All I can think of is that they actually said nothing.” The Rage reporter Lola Leetz described Paparo’s Senate testimony as “nonsense.”
Digital asset advocacy organization Bitcoin Policy Institute research director Sam Lyman said that the Iranian government is charging oil transit fees using stablecoins pegged to the dollar and Bitcoin, but prefers to use dollar-pegged stablecoins. Lyman pointed out that stablecoins can still be frozen by the issuer at the smart contract level, whereas Bitcoin cannot be frozen due to the lack of a central issuer. He stated, “This is one of the most important scenarios where Bitcoin is clearly used as a strategic asset.” He added, “The reason Iran wants to use Bitcoin in these transactions is that no one can freeze Bitcoin, no one can shut down the Bitcoin network.”