The feds must rein in crypto-financed terrorism By Cointelegraph
[ad_1]
While regulators and policymakers dither and try to decide if cryptocurrencies have a future in the economy, early adopters, including terrorists and violent extremists, are exploiting a law enforcement blind spot. The ease by which money laundering and terrorism financing take place with cryptocurrencies and the more dangerous privacy coins are becoming a security threat of our own making through bureaucratic inaction.
The recent indictment of a New York woman accused of sending funds to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham — designated by the United States and United Nations as a Foreign Terrorist Organization — is newsworthy because it’s the exception, not the rule. But this does not necessarily mean that financing terrorism with cryptocurrencies is itself a rare event. Rather, the few prosecutions that have been announced reflect the limitations of law enforcement’s capabilities in the United States and around the world — a problem that can and should be solved.
Hans-Jakob Schindler served as a member and then as coordinator of the United Nations Security Council’s ISIL, al Qaeda and Taliban Monitoring Team from 2013–2018 before becoming senior director of the Counter Extremism Project. He holds a Ph.D. in international relations/international terrorism from the University of St. Andrews.
Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph
[ad_2]
Source link
While regulators and policymakers dither and try to decide if cryptocurrencies have a future in the economy, early adopters, including terrorists and violent extremists, are exploiting a law enforcement blind spot. The ease by which money laundering and terrorism financing take place with cryptocurrencies and the more dangerous privacy coins are becoming a security threat of our own making through bureaucratic inaction.
The recent indictment of a New York woman accused of sending funds to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham — designated by the United States and United Nations as a Foreign Terrorist Organization — is newsworthy because it’s the exception, not the rule. But this does not necessarily mean that financing terrorism with cryptocurrencies is itself a rare event. Rather, the few prosecutions that have been announced reflect the limitations of law enforcement’s capabilities in the United States and around the world — a problem that can and should be solved.
Hans-Jakob Schindler served as a member and then as coordinator of the United Nations Security Council’s ISIL, al Qaeda and Taliban Monitoring Team from 2013–2018 before becoming senior director of the Counter Extremism Project. He holds a Ph.D. in international relations/international terrorism from the University of St. Andrews.
Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph
About The Author
