Palestinian militant group Hamas was unable to use traditional financial systems to raise money after they were designated a “terror outfit” by multiple Western countries. So, its military wing devised a way to raise funds using Bitcoin technology.
Everyone who visits the latest version of their website Qassam Brigades is given a Bitcoin wallet address, which they can use to send the digital currency. What is alarming is such a channel remains largely untraceable, making it difficult for law enforcement agencies to track down people who are funding such outfits.
The multi-lingual site, which also bears the brigades’ logo, even features a crafty video explaining how to purchase and donate Bitcoin without letting the authorities get a whiff of the transactions.
In fact, terror outfits were probably some of the last criminal elements to join the Bitcoin bandwagon, which has been exploited in the past to indulge in several illegal activities.
As per a New York Times report, government authorities have finally raised an alarm after observing that an increased number of Islamist terror organisations are exploiting and experimenting with digital coin technology for terror financing.
Notably, cryptocurrencies have always been lucrative to lawbreakers because it allows the possession and transfer of money sans the surveillance of a central authority. Besides, literally anybody can create a Bitcoin address to receive funds anonymously.
