Bitcoin

The finding that dual-use (military) research attracts more citations—and presumably more funding—implies that technologies with clear defense applications will accelerate faster than pure civilian tech. For crypto, this matters because blockchain is increasingly dual-use: immutable ledgers for military logistics, tokenized assets for sanctions circumvention, and zero-knowledge proofs for secure communications. If military-grade crypto R&D outpaces civilian innovation, we could see a bifurcation: privacy coins and military-grade infrastructure getting priority funding, while DeFi and consumer tokens lag.

Researchers found that dual-use research with military applications receives more citations than civilian-only research.