Usually, bitcoin appears in the media when it develops a rally or falls sharply. However, sometimes, the No. 1 cryptocurrency hits the headlines related to the shady business. For instance, recently, the United States government said that it seized about $2 million in bitcoin and other digital assets from accounts that had been used to finance three foreign terrorist organizations: Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Hamas’s paramilitary arm, the Al Qassam Brigades.
Criminals have always kept up with technological progress. No wonder, they turned to digital currencies to conduct their financial manipulations and receive illegal funds. "It should not surprise anyone that our enemies use modern technology, social media platforms and cryptocurrency to facilitate their evil and violent agendas," Attorney General William Barr said. If usual wire transfers are easy to track, it is impossible to do so with cryptocurrencies. All the wallets and transactions are encrypted. Thus, this anonymity is an excellent cover for financing terrorism. The US Department of Justice tries to track the illegal crypto transactions. Not long ago law enforcement officials seized about 155 cryptocurrency wallets that had allegedly been used by one of the world's largest terrorist organizations. Currently, the US authorities are trying to withdraw bitcoins stored in these wallets.
Notably, terrorists created fake charitable organizations to raise funds. The terrorists carried out money laundering operations through a network of channels in Telegram.
