Sure, the US$ is backed by a large military-industrial complex (as well as the power to tax and the productivity of the people and companies of the US), but if we switched from the US$ to BTC as the national currency we'd still need a US military - it's not like the only utility a military has is to keep the currency afloat.

Can’t imagine we would still need 1000 bases in 80 countries around the world if we didn’t have to protect the petrodollar and reserve status.

The same goes for gold. If only used for jewelry and industrial applications we wouldn’t need to strip mine so much of it.

Could it be that they protect more than just the value of the US dollar?