In the aftermath of the lethal white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in August 2017, many extremists had their accounts removed from mainstream crowdsourcing platforms like Patreon and GoFundMe. This has triggered a shift to alternative platforms, including cryptocurrencies, specifically less transparent altcoins such as Monero.

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

- Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades
- al Sadaqah
- Jahezona 
- Far-right/neo-Nazi groups

Examples of terrorism financing using cryptocurrencies

Ebner, Julia. (2018). The currency of the far-right: why neo-Nazis love bitcoin. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/24/bitcoin-currency-far-right-neo-nazis-cryptocurrencies

The currency of the far-right: why neo-Nazis love bitcoin

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades are a wing of Hamas, a well-known Palestinian terrorist organization. In January of 2019, they launched a campaign asking supporters to fund their military efforts by donating to a Bitcoin address.

Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades

Jahezona, which means "equip us" in Arabic, was an online fundraising campaign conducted by Ibn Taymiyya Media Center, which is an online jihadist propaganda unit based in the Gaza Strip. The campaign called for Muslims worldwide to donate funds, adding the option to pay in bitcoin in June 2016. 

Learn Before

Related