Terrorists are turning to crypto as their safe haven. Svetlana Martynova, the UN’s counterterrorism financing coordinator, asserts that terrorist groups that have been cut off from the “formal financial system” have turned to cryptocurrencies to finance their heinous endeavors (UN).
Speaking at a “Special Meeting” of the UN’s Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) on October 28 and 29, in New Delhi and Mumbai, the UN representative made the comments. Combating terrorists’ use of “new and emerging technologies” was the main goal of the meeting.
Cash and “hawala,” a conventional method of money transfer in South Asia and the Middle East, have been the “predominant methods” of financing terrorism, according to Martynova. However, “we know terrorists adapt to the evolution of conditions around them and as technologies evolve they do as well,” she added.
Terrorists are abusing crypto for anonymity
Martynova mentioned cryptocurrencies as one of these technologies that have been used to “create opportunities for abuse by the terrorists.
“If they’re excluded from the formal financial system and they want to purchase or invest in something with anonymity, and they’re advanced for that, they’re likely to abuse cryptocurrencies.”
According to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, new technologies have an “unmatched ability to improve human conditions everywhere,” but the harm they cause also extends far beyond encouraging terrorism.
Guterres also mentioned that terrorists and other hateful ideologies are abusing new technologies to spread disinformation. According to Martynova, the main challenge to the UN’s plan to solve the issue on a global scale is getting nation-states to agree to its regulation.
According to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and UNSC resolutions, there are very clear international standards in place, she said.
To discourage malicious non-state actors, Martynova added that only a small number of nations have begun to develop regulations, and even fewer are “successfully enforcing that regulation.”
There are national-level programs in place, and the US Department of the Treasury recently sanctioned cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash over worries about cybercrime and money laundering.
In recent years, a number of blockchain-based forensic companies, including Chainalysis and Elliptic, have emerged to find cybercriminals and report their activities to governments, dispelling the myth that cryptocurrencies are a safe haven for criminals.