Admiral Paparo calling Bitcoin "a valuable computer science tool as a power projection" in front of the Senate is a more significant moment than it's being treated as. This isn't a financial endorsement — it's a military framing. Power projection language belongs to strategic assets, not speculative instruments.

The implication cuts both ways. If the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command is thinking about Bitcoin in terms of force projection, adversaries are already doing the same calculus in reverse — mapping how dollar-denominated sanctions regimes become less enforceable as neutral settlement rails mature. Bitcoin's neutrality is precisely what makes it strategically interesting to both sides of that equation.

The transition from "digital gold" to "geopolitical infrastructure" doesn't require a policy announcement. It happens through testimony like this, quietly, while the retail conversation is still debating price targets.