Terrorist organizations diversify their funding. An upcoming report from the Middle East Media Research Institute think tank, which France 24 was able to preview in a preview on Thursday (August 22nd), suggests that different terrorist groups have turned to bitcoin to finance their activities. The use of this technology allows them to circumvent the regulations put in place by the banking sector.
The study takes the example of Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States in particular. On their propaganda site, it is proposed to donate bitcoin.
"Bitcoin is an untraceable cryptocurrency, which respects your desire for anonymity and allows donations in a secure manner," says a propaganda video site that details the steps to follow.
Financing outside traditional controls
"The advantage of using cryptocurrencies is that there is no need to go through the banks, which are increasingly monitored," says Eric Vernier, associate researcher at Iris and specialist money laundering and terrorist financing, questioned by France 24. "The other advantage is that this circuit is not controlled.If some of the cryptocurrencies remain traceable, there is no regulator, neither intermediary. "
"If I make a transfer to a friend, it goes through my bank, a clearing house, then my friend's bank, so there are three levels of control," says the specialist. "If I go through a cryptocurrency, it goes through computers around the world.There is only autocontrol via blockchain systems.There is a guarantee of financial flows but no body that controls each of these flows. "
Bitcoins are not unique to terrorist organizations: some states even use them to circumvent international sanctions such as Iran or Venezuela.
A technique that improves
However, cryptocurrencies are not totally untraceable: "We can keep track of certain currencies, including bitcoin.When we can track a flow, we can go back.The difference with a bank, it is that this monitoring is not done continuously, here it is done only in case of investigations, "says Eric Vernier.
According to the New York Times, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades initially provided only one bitcoin address, making it easier for the authorities to identify the source of the money and freeze its use.
The Palestinian group then learned to cover themselves. Instead of going through a portfolio managed by an external platform, they created portfolios via a platform under their control. They also assign a different bitcoin address to each of their donor. Practices that complicate the task of the authorities. According to the New York Times, they were inspired by the Islamic State group to implement this procedure.
Eric Vernier explains that this new vein adds to the rest of the financing of terrorist organizations.
"Financing can obviously be done much more easily via other channels, for example it may be easier to give 1,000 euros directly to a radicalized imam who serves as a local relay. little in computing, it is quite simple to go through the cryptocurrency and it will seem logical to him to go through this system rather than a traditional circuit ", details the researcher-associate of the Iris. "This is a new possibility in their range, especially since the controls are not up to date."
"It's like doping, technology is one step ahead of control," said Eric Vernier. "There is a loophole of the legislator, it should be remedied by regulating the same way as banks, but it goes against the open-source philosophy of cryptocurrency and their libertarian vision."