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. 

Jahezona

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.

Cryptocurrency usage of far-right/neo-Nazi groups

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

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Since cryptocurrencies are generally anonymous and able to operate across jurisdictions, they provide an unique opportunity for terrorists to hide their financing methods from both government agencies and law enforcement. 

Financing of terrorism with cryptocurrencies

Wolf, Siegfried O. (2021). Terrorism financing: Crypto-Taliban? South Asia Democratic Forum. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3941105

Terrorism financing: Crypto-Taliban? 

- Price volatility
- Transaction traceability
- Digital infrastructure requirements
- Digital skill requirements

Limitations of terrorism financing with cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrency exchanges serve both as marketplaces for selling and buying
cryptocurrencies online and as connection points between digital spaces and traditional financial mechanisms. Their potential use for the financing of terrorism has made them the focus of. anti-money laundering and counterterrorism regulators.

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