Snip...

I am paid to research computer science.  No one tells me what exactly I should research, not even that it has to be strictly computer science; except that I have to satisfy grant committees once a while, and advise students on their thesis topics (and that freedom of research is one of the few advantages of being a university professor).  

But frankly bitcoin is more an hobby than work, like my previous net-obsessions with space exploration, cold fusion, the Voynich Manuscript, the Fukushima disaster, Wikipedia, Wikimapia...  On the other hand Bitcoin is clearly computer science, so if perchance someone were to complain that I am spending too much time in my hobby, my ass is reasonably covered.  And it is also something that I am expected to advise the public about, like electronic voting and other computers-and-society issues.