Bitcoin News and Finance US Treasury Deputy Secretary: Crypto Not Major Source of Funding for Terrorists Skip to main content

US Treasury Deputy Secretary: Crypto Not Major Source of Funding for Terrorists

US Treasury Deputy Secretary: Crypto Not Major Source of Funding for Terrorist Groups

U.S. Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo says crypto is not the vast majority of the ways terrorist groups are funded, noting that these organizations “continued to use the traditional banking system.” His statements followed media reports claiming that Hamas raised a large sum of money in cryptocurrency.

Crypto Not Major Funding Source for Terrorist Groups

Wally Adeyemo, United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, addressed the role of cryptocurrency in financing terrorist organizations during an interview on Friday with the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)’s Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies.

Several news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, recently reported that Hamas raised millions of dollars in crypto. However, blockchain data analytics firm Elliptic clarified that these media reports misrepresented its data, and there is actually no evidence that Hamas has received large volumes of crypto funds.

Adeyemo said during Friday’s interview:

Today I would say that … the use of crypto is not the vast majority of the ways that these groups are funded.

“I think the way to think about this is that they [crypto] are evolving like everyone else is evolving. When you think about when modern sanctions started to be used in 2001, many of these terrorist groups were using, at that point, the traditional banking system,” he explained, emphasizing:

They continued to use the traditional banking system. That’s why we continue to work with financial institutions.

“But as the modern internet came into play, many of these groups started to fundraise using things like Venmo, Paypal, and these products,” Adeyemo noted. “And we worked closely with those companies to prevent them from being abused by these actors as well.”

The deputy secretary of the Treasury emphasized: “Now that evolution continues and the next source of that is cryptocurrency … We need this industry to work with us to make sure that we are preventing cryptocurrency from being used and abused by Hamas and these groups going forward.” Adeyemo explained:

The thing that we know about terrorist groups, and those who work to move money illicitly, is they’re going to use any new technology to try to do that.

He stressed that the government is taking action now to prevent crypto from becoming the way terrorist groups are funded, noting that the Treasury Department has been going after crypto mixers.

What do you think about U.S. Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo stating that crypto is not the vast majority of the ways that terrorist groups are funded? Let us know in the comments section below.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r
Blogarama - Blog Directory