Blockchain security firm TRM Labs said the ISIS group has raised more than $2 million in cryptocurrency. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis posits that cryptocurrencies are not crime friendly, as their use by hackers has dropped by 65%. Several countries, such as Kuwait, are introducing measures to limit the exposure of their citizens to the crypto industry.
Terrorist organizations associated with the ISIS group have raised more than $2 million this year with cryptocurrencies, according to a recent report by TRM Labs.
The Blockchain intelligence firm revealed this in its new report stating that the terrorist group is increasingly using cryptography for its fundraising activities.
Pro-ISIS Group Raised $2 Million in USDT
According to the report, significant on-chain evidence shows that pro-ISIS networks in Tajikistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Indonesia have been using cryptocurrency for their activities. Most of these transactions are in Tether USDT on the Tron network.
This corroborates a recent report claiming that hackers were increasingly favoring stablecoins like USDT for their illicit transactions.
Pro-ISIS groups use crypto to recruit fighters to join an ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan (ISKP). One such group in Tajikistan received more than 2 million USDT in 2022.
TRM Labs revealed how it reported to an anonymous exchange to identify the person behind the account and alerted the authorities. This led the Turkish authorities to arrest Shamil Hukumatov, a prominent ISIS fundraiser allegedly behind the fundraiser, on June 22.
Other pro-ISIS groups in Indonesia, Afghanistan and Pakistan have also received crypto assets. These organizations received a combined total of $567,000 in crypto asset donations in 2022.
Silk Road, the Illegal Products Supermarket
The argument that the use of cryptos is associated with paying for illegal activities has often been used to prohibit them. Much of the origin of this can be traced back to the Silk Road portal, hosted on the unindexed deep internet, known as the deep web.
Silk Road was a black market where users could buy all kinds of drugs and hire illegal services, and on whose platform payments were made only through bitcoin or later with privacy coins such as Monero.
Although the portal was closed in 2013 by the FBI, and its founder Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2015, there are still media that continue to closely link bitcoin with the payment of all kinds of illegal activities, and even terrorism.
Despite the privacy offered by the use of cryptocurrencies, over time it has been seen that the traceability of their transactions makes it “less practical” to pay for illegal activities using cryptocurrencies than through any other form of money, especially cash, since it is practically impossible to prosecute in its physical form, that is, banknotes.
Chainalysis Says Crypto Is Not Crime Friendly
Earlier this month, Chainalysis reported that cryptocurrencies were not crime friendly, with their use by criminals dropping by 65% this year.
The firm focused on illicit activities involving ransomware hackers and dark networks. It also reported that revenue from crypto scammers dropped by 77% in the current year.
However, the decline in crypto crime overall has not convinced regulators about their preference for hackers. Kuwait recently banned cryptocurrencies citing their possible use for money laundering and terrorist financing.
Even countries like Belarus and Australia that are not banning digital assets are also introducing measures to limit their use for illicit purposes.
Belarus wants to ban peer-to-peer crypto transactions to combat cybercrime, while Australian banks are restricting payments to “high-risk” exchanges.
By Audy Castaneda
