Terrorism only funds 0.05% of all illicit crypto transactions: report

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NEW DELHI: Amid fears that the Taliban group in Afghanistan would turn to cryptocurrencies to fund its operations, digital currency exchange platform Coinbase said transactions associated with terrorist financing in 2020 represented less than 0.05% of all illicit crypto volume. Additionally, illicit activity accounted for well under 1% of all activity in the crypto space in 2020.

While the industry has come a long way from Satoshidice, Mt. Gox and the Silk Road, illicit activity has declined but has not completely ceased. However, accounting for well less than 1% of all activity in the crypto space in 2020, illicit activity is no more of concern to the crypto-economy than it is to the traditional financial system, ”Coinbase wrote in a blog on Medium. , releasing the findings of an analysis conducted by its special investigative team.

The analysis focused on the most significant fundraising efforts of organizations related to the financing of terrorism in recent years.

By evaluating the fundraising of these organizations over time, we find that Hamas has raised the most funds, by far. This is probably due to the fact that Hamas actively solicits donations mainly in the form of bitcoin on its website and associated Telegram channels, ”the crypto exchange said.

Hamas began soliciting Bitcoin donations in January 2018, with a unique donation address.

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Hamas began soliciting Bitcoin donations in January 2018, with a unique donation address.

Research has also found that there has been some interest in fundraising based on altcoins. Altcoins is a cumulative term to define post-bitcoin cryptocurrencies.

From August 2020 to August 2021, terrorist organizations began receiving donations of ETH (ether), ERC20 tokens, and XRP (ripple). This fundraiser can only be attributed to a Saudi-led militant jihadist movement, which began soliciting donations in the form of BTC, ETH, XRP and various ERC20 tokens in 2020, ”Coinbase said.

According to the exchange, after identifying a terrorist fundraising campaign, it blocks all crypto addresses associated with those organizations, detects the broader campaign efforts of terrorist organizations, and coordinates with law enforcement.

With institutional and consumer interest in crypto at an all-time high, alongside the continued rise in decentralized finance (DeFi, 2020 and 2021 saw cryptocurrency achieve mainstream adoption that the space anticipated. since many years.

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