In 2018, the U.S. Department of Defense quietly ran a strategic military simulation that would raise eyebrows across government agencies. The scenario painted a dystopian picture: a shadowy cybercriminal collective operating from the dark web, known as “Zbellion,” orchestrates coordinated attacks on financial institutions while actively recruiting disillusioned Generation Z members to fund a global rebellion through cryptocurrency. According to a classified Pentagon document later obtained by The Intercept through Freedom of Information requests, this 200-page war game was designed to prepare military strategists for 21st-century conflicts fought entirely in cyberspace.
The Zbellion scenario itself reveals how Pentagon planners viewed the convergence of social discontent and cryptocurrency. Set in 2025 (a timeframe now in the recent past), the simulation depicts Generation Z—facing economic uncertainty and systemic disillusionment with Western institutions—as prime recruitment targets. The fictional organization exploits this vulnerability by positioning cyberattacks against “the establishment” as both ideological resistance and financial necessity.
The Zbellion Money Laundering Pipeline: Bitcoin as the Digital Escape Route
According to the Pentagon’s war game documentation, Zbellion’s operational model follows a specific workflow. Members participate in coordinated cyberattacks that steal funds from government agencies and corporations. These illicit proceeds are then funneled through software-based money laundering programs designed to convert national currencies into Bitcoin. The stolen Bitcoin is subsequently distributed as “below-threshold donations” to ideologically aligned recipients or returned directly to individual attackers who claim financial hardship.
The document doesn’t elaborate on whether the conversion would occur through centralized cryptocurrency exchanges or peer-to-peer marketplaces. It’s also worth noting that Pentagon analysts may have used “Bitcoin” as a catch-all term for cryptocurrencies more broadly, rather than specifically referencing the Bitcoin network itself.
As of February 2026, Bitcoin was trading around $68,450, having appreciated 4.64% over the previous 24 hours—a reminder that cryptocurrency markets remain volatile and frequently capture regulatory and military attention.
Why Bitcoin Makes a Terrible Choice for Criminal Networks
Here lies the fundamental flaw in the Pentagon’s war game scenario: Bitcoin is arguably the worst possible tool for large-scale criminal operations seeking anonymity. Any serious international cyber conspiracy would recognize three critical vulnerabilities:
The Public Ledger Problem: Bitcoin transactions are permanently recorded on a public, distributed ledger accessible to anyone with basic technical knowledge. Unlike traditional banking systems that maintain transaction privacy, every Bitcoin movement can be examined by law enforcement, military cybersecurity teams, and private analysis firms.
Immutability and Forensic Trails: Once a Bitcoin transaction is recorded, it becomes irreversible. This permanent record means that even if Zbellion attempted to obfuscate transaction origins or destinations, the historical blockchain record remains eternally available for investigation and pattern analysis.
Commercial Surveillance Infrastructure: The emergence of sophisticated blockchain analysis firms has dramatically changed the calculus for cryptocurrency-based crime. Companies like Chainalysis have built increasingly advanced tools for de-anonymizing blockchain users and tracking illicit fund flows. The firm’s client roster reads like a roster of law enforcement agencies: the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) all rely on Chainalysis data.
The DEA’s 2019 prosecution of five drug dealers who believed Bitcoin provided anonymity underscored this point. “This investigation clearly demonstrates [cryptocurrencies] aren’t safe, they aren’t anonymous, and they can’t evade justice,” remarked DEA special agent Doug Coleman following the convictions.
The Pentagon’s Escalating Crypto Concerns
The Pentagon’s 2018 war game reveals that military planners were primarily concerned with how cryptocurrency could facilitate organized rebellion and funding of cyberattacks—not technical monetary policy questions. Yet the technology landscape has shifted dramatically since the simulation’s creation:
Facebook’s Ambitions: The social media giant unveiled plans for its own digital asset, representing mainstream corporate entry into the cryptocurrency space
China’s Digital Yuan: Beijing accelerated development of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), moving ahead of Western nations in digital financial infrastructure
Federal Reserve’s Reversal: The Fed, which expressed deep skepticism about cryptocurrencies in 2018, later began researching a distributed ledger technology (DLT) based digital dollar
Pentagon’s Own Blockchain Embrace: Paradoxically, the Pentagon itself released a report in July 2019 outlining a new cybersecurity shield leveraging blockchain technology to increase resilience against future cyberattacks
The Pentagon’s Zbellion scenario thus captures a moment of institutional uncertainty—when military planners were grappling with how decentralized finance could amplify generational conflict, while simultaneously underestimating both the forensic capabilities of blockchain analysis and the eventual pivot toward central bank-controlled digital currencies.
What the Pentagon Was Really Worried About
Ultimately, the Zbellion war game reveals less about Bitcoin’s actual utility for crime and more about Pentagon concerns regarding ideological radicalization, economic desperation among younger generations, and coordinated cyber-enabled insurgency. The scenario presents a worst-case convergence: activist sentiment + technological capability + financial incentive + cryptographic tools = distributed financial rebellion.
Yet the simulation also contains an implicit warning: as governments develop their own central bank digital currencies and as blockchain analysis companies expand surveillance capabilities, the asymmetric advantage once offered by cryptocurrency anonymity continues to erode. The Pentagon’s strategic thinking has evolved accordingly—from countering Zbellion-style decentralized rebellion to building its own blockchain-based cybersecurity infrastructure.
ペンタゴンのZbellion戦争ゲームの内幕：ジェネレーションZのサイバー攻撃がビットコインを標的にする可能性
In 2018, the U.S. Department of Defense quietly ran a strategic military simulation that would raise eyebrows across government agencies. The scenario painted a dystopian picture: a shadowy cybercriminal collective operating from the dark web, known as “Zbellion,” orchestrates coordinated attacks on financial institutions while actively recruiting disillusioned Generation Z members to fund a global rebellion through cryptocurrency. According to a classified Pentagon document later obtained by The Intercept through Freedom of Information requests, this 200-page war game was designed to prepare military strategists for 21st-century conflicts fought entirely in cyberspace.
The Zbellion scenario itself reveals how Pentagon planners viewed the convergence of social discontent and cryptocurrency. Set in 2025 (a timeframe now in the recent past), the simulation depicts Generation Z—facing economic uncertainty and systemic disillusionment with Western institutions—as prime recruitment targets. The fictional organization exploits this vulnerability by positioning cyberattacks against “the establishment” as both ideological resistance and financial necessity.
The Zbellion Money Laundering Pipeline: Bitcoin as the Digital Escape Route
According to the Pentagon’s war game documentation, Zbellion’s operational model follows a specific workflow. Members participate in coordinated cyberattacks that steal funds from government agencies and corporations. These illicit proceeds are then funneled through software-based money laundering programs designed to convert national currencies into Bitcoin. The stolen Bitcoin is subsequently distributed as “below-threshold donations” to ideologically aligned recipients or returned directly to individual attackers who claim financial hardship.
The document doesn’t elaborate on whether the conversion would occur through centralized cryptocurrency exchanges or peer-to-peer marketplaces. It’s also worth noting that Pentagon analysts may have used “Bitcoin” as a catch-all term for cryptocurrencies more broadly, rather than specifically referencing the Bitcoin network itself.
As of February 2026, Bitcoin was trading around $68,450, having appreciated 4.64% over the previous 24 hours—a reminder that cryptocurrency markets remain volatile and frequently capture regulatory and military attention.
Why Bitcoin Makes a Terrible Choice for Criminal Networks
Here lies the fundamental flaw in the Pentagon’s war game scenario: Bitcoin is arguably the worst possible tool for large-scale criminal operations seeking anonymity. Any serious international cyber conspiracy would recognize three critical vulnerabilities:
The Public Ledger Problem: Bitcoin transactions are permanently recorded on a public, distributed ledger accessible to anyone with basic technical knowledge. Unlike traditional banking systems that maintain transaction privacy, every Bitcoin movement can be examined by law enforcement, military cybersecurity teams, and private analysis firms.
Immutability and Forensic Trails: Once a Bitcoin transaction is recorded, it becomes irreversible. This permanent record means that even if Zbellion attempted to obfuscate transaction origins or destinations, the historical blockchain record remains eternally available for investigation and pattern analysis.
Commercial Surveillance Infrastructure: The emergence of sophisticated blockchain analysis firms has dramatically changed the calculus for cryptocurrency-based crime. Companies like Chainalysis have built increasingly advanced tools for de-anonymizing blockchain users and tracking illicit fund flows. The firm’s client roster reads like a roster of law enforcement agencies: the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) all rely on Chainalysis data.
The DEA’s 2019 prosecution of five drug dealers who believed Bitcoin provided anonymity underscored this point. “This investigation clearly demonstrates [cryptocurrencies] aren’t safe, they aren’t anonymous, and they can’t evade justice,” remarked DEA special agent Doug Coleman following the convictions.
The Pentagon’s Escalating Crypto Concerns
The Pentagon’s 2018 war game reveals that military planners were primarily concerned with how cryptocurrency could facilitate organized rebellion and funding of cyberattacks—not technical monetary policy questions. Yet the technology landscape has shifted dramatically since the simulation’s creation:
The Pentagon’s Zbellion scenario thus captures a moment of institutional uncertainty—when military planners were grappling with how decentralized finance could amplify generational conflict, while simultaneously underestimating both the forensic capabilities of blockchain analysis and the eventual pivot toward central bank-controlled digital currencies.
What the Pentagon Was Really Worried About
Ultimately, the Zbellion war game reveals less about Bitcoin’s actual utility for crime and more about Pentagon concerns regarding ideological radicalization, economic desperation among younger generations, and coordinated cyber-enabled insurgency. The scenario presents a worst-case convergence: activist sentiment + technological capability + financial incentive + cryptographic tools = distributed financial rebellion.
Yet the simulation also contains an implicit warning: as governments develop their own central bank digital currencies and as blockchain analysis companies expand surveillance capabilities, the asymmetric advantage once offered by cryptocurrency anonymity continues to erode. The Pentagon’s strategic thinking has evolved accordingly—from countering Zbellion-style decentralized rebellion to building its own blockchain-based cybersecurity infrastructure.