The Singham Ground Game
The article examines a covert foreign influence operation targeting U.S. AI policy, detailing how coordinated tactics—including strategic litigation, media manipulation, and political lobbying—were deployed to shape American technology regulation in favor of foreign interests.
Background
- Singham (सिंहम, "lion") is the name of a campaign identified by authors connected to bitcoin/anti-CBDC advocacy, alleging joint U.S.-India efforts to shape global AI policy toward central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and away from decentralized AI.
- "Ground game" refers to on-the-ground political organizing and regulatory influence, as opposed to high-level public announcements.
- The article is part of a series arguing that foreign actors—particularly via India's digital public infrastructure (India Stack) and U.S. agencies—are coordinating to steer AI governance in a direction that favors surveillance-friendly, centralized financial systems.
- Key context: ongoing global debate between "crypto-libertarian" visions (Bitcoin, decentralized AI, private money) and "CBDC/regulated AI" visions backed by major governments and international bodies like the IMF and BIS.
- The piece is published on btcpolicy.org, a site focused on bitcoin-adjacent policy analysis, meaning the framing assumes readers are skeptical of state-controlled digital infrastructure.