The U.S. has seized roughly $2 million in bitcoin units said to be used for funding terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, ISIS and others.

Terrorist Groups Are Stopped Ahead of Time

One of the big worries centered on bitcoin is its use in criminal circles. News has emerged that bitcoin is still widely popular on dark web markets, and the currency is frequently the subject of hackers and cyber thieves. Among the most recent – and most prominent – cases as of late are a Twitter BTC hack that saw several high-profile accounts from people like former president Barack Obama, his vice president Joe Biden, Microsoft mogul Bill Gates and SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk overtaken by cyber criminals.

The goal of such figures was to establish a bitcoin-based scam that would entice unsuspecting followers into sending their crypto to anonymous addresses in the hopes that they would have their stashes doubled. Naturally, this wasn’t the case, and the cyber thieves made off with approximately $121,000 in BTC. The ringleader of the hacking organization – 17-year-old Graham Clark – is now facing charges of computer fraud, among other things.

But another major concern for bitcoin traders is how often the currency is utilized to empower or finance terrorist organizations and anti-American agendas. At the time of writing, it appears that the money sent to these organizations mentioned above were waiting in cryptocurrency addresses, having already been delivered. The government has removed the funds from these wallets and are now investigating further regarding where the funds came from and who the holders are.

Overall, money from approximately 300 separate accounts was taken from crypto wallets that were being held by what The New York Times refers to as “bank-like institutions.” Several other accounts – all of which held millions of dollars in bitcoin and assorted cryptocurrencies – were blacklisted or cut off, meaning their original owners cannot access these accounts at press time.

John Demers – assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s National Security Division – announced in a statement:

Today’s actions deprive Hamas, Al Qaeda and ISIS of millions of dollars they solicited to buy weapons and train terrorists. By raising cryptocurrency on social media, these terrorists tried to bring terrorist financing into the current age, but these actions show that law enforcement remains a step ahead.

You’re Not That Secretive…

The problem with utilizing bitcoin for terrorist schemes is that it is not as anonymous as one might think. Virtually every bitcoin transaction is recorded to a public chain that anyone can gain access to. For anyone looking to view bitcoin’s future, the chain gives them all the information they need.

Furthermore, law enforcement says that it has currently developed new tools that will allow agents to potentially examine blockchain transactions on a deeper level and see who may potentially be involved in criminal activities.

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