Cyber Crypto Crimes
Cyber Crypto Crimes
Following the increase in the use of cryptocurrencies among terrorist organizations in recent years, authorities around the world must deal with the disturbing phenomenon, and develop new and advanced regulatory tools in order to respond to the above-mentioned threat.
The American federal prosecution has revealed an indictment that includes a large number of serious charges against senior officials of the Hamas terrorist organization, including planning and execution of terrorist attacks, mass murder, support for international terrorism, complicity in the murder of American citizens outside the borders of the United States, terrorist financing and more.
The indictment submitted describes the activities of the terrorist organization Hamas in planning and carrying out severe terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of more than a thousand American and Israeli citizens.
The federal indictment is in fact an important declaration by the American prosecution and the administration in Washington about their clear position regarding the events of October 7 2023 — there is no questioning the difficult events: Hamas terrorists raped and murdered women, men and children, and in most cases the killing was dealt in short range shootings.
The Hamas terrorists also used the weapons they had in their possession to commit serious sexual offenses against Israeli women. Hamas terrorists kidnapped soldiers and civilians to Gaza Strip — women, men and children, including those with American citizenship.
One of the interesting topics, is the wide use that the terrorist organization Hamas made, and still makes of cryptocurrencies, as one of the main tools for financing terrorism, especially when crypto capital can be transferred anonymously, thus avoiding the surveillance of intelligence agencies and the supervision of banks.
There are significant challenges for law enforcement agencies around the world, when it comes to preventing the use of cryptocurrencies to finance terrorist activities. The terrorist organizations take advantage of the anonymity provided by this technology, and the difficulty of law enforcement authorities to notice those money transfers. Since in recent years there has been a significant increase in the use of crypto-currencies by terrorist organizations, this requires the law authorities to develop new tools in order to deal with this serious phenomenon.
After the disclosure of the indictment, it is evident that the authorities in the United States have decided to take a very decisive approach towards the financing of terrorism through cryptocurrencies. The war on terrorism on the digital level will continue, with an emphasis on strict regulatory oversight and increased enforcement — the requirements for transparency and identification of cryptocurrency transactions will be increased, and severe penalties will be imposed on crypto platforms that refuse to cooperate with law enforcements.
