No doubt that during the lockdowns caused due to the Covid-19 crisis, the use of crypto-based assets has increased manifold wherein also the scammers and fraudsters got very active too. However, for the time being, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology has become one of the topmost priority items in the list of the US’s top agency.
According to news reports CIA has very recently launched an initiative that is designed for the purposes of recruiting most talented individuals with potential IP profits from and within the country to keep a closer eye on the activities going on in the blockchain industry as well as the crypto-based assets. The initiative has been named as “CIA Labs” and once the agents are picked up and placed in the system then the agents will be required to develop IP technologies for which they will be compensated in the shape of profits.
CIA Labs are established as one-purpose vehicle as an internal research and development based entity for the purposes of allowing its agents to develop state of the art technology and upon the successful development of a technology, the agents will be incentivized by sharing profits. The CIA has announced the launch of CIA Labs on Friday last week.
According to the CIA, CIA Labs is duly registered with the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer, which is involved in helping and assisting more than 300 federal agencies within the US. In the case of CIA Labs, the agents of the CIA will be allowed to submit patents in respect of intellectual property and will be entitled to get a share equivalent to 15% annually upon commercialization. However annually this share has been capped at US$ 150,000 per year. The rest of the profits will then be under the ownership of the US’s top agency.
During an interview with MIT Technology Review, Dawn Meyerriecks who is the Deputy Director of Science and Technology Directorate of the CIA said that the Agency is looking forward to hire talent who might move towards Silicon Valley for seeking higher salaries. However, it may be seen whether such an initiative would attract the talent or not.
