Hamas, a Palestinian militant fundamentalist organization, is listed by the United States and its allies as a terrorist group and has been blacklisted by most western countries in mainstream financial transactions. But Hamas has found a way to fund its operations -- through cryptocurrency.
Terror organizations around the world have been trying to figure out how to find their way around digital currency - bitcoin, to be precise - as early as 2012 - but in the past months, Sunni-Islamist have been busy soliciting for support to fund their cause.
The first few attempts by terror groups to make bitcoin work for their own advantage was not a walk in the park and were fraught with errors. However, they are relentless and through trial-and-error, they have somehow mastered their craft and understood how blockchain technology functions.
Based on the most online site created by the armed unit known as "Qassam Brigades", each visitor is provided a distinct virtual currency address where the person can send crypto money, a strategy that makes the flow of electronic funding amost impossible for authorities to monitor.
The website, which can be viewed in 7 different languages and bares the militant group's green flag-and- machine gun logo, features a well-documented video clip highlighting how to buy and send digital money without setting off the alarm.
In spite of widespread myth, cryptocurrency is not totally nondescript and incognito. Because to the intrinsic characteristic of blockchain, which is where all bitcoin transactions are recorded, experts and authorities have a way of dissecting information with the use of special software. Unlike with traditional form of currency, using digital cash fundamentally exposes electronic transactions, and that's not what terror groups want.
Bitcoin - the most popular digital asset and virtual currency in the world - is not something that anybody can use to buy stuff or pay for services. However, among its peers, bitcoin is by far the most convenient to cash-out, therefore providing criminals an alternative to fund their nefarious ways.
According to former CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) crypto analyst Yaya Famusie, people "are going to see more of this," adding that this trend is "going to be part of the terrorist financing, and it's something that people should be paying attention to."
For his part, United States Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin has given his own critical analysis with regards the rampant use of digital currency, in his recent speech, urging authorities to exert more efforts for more active monitoring of illicit bitcoin transactions, especially from terror groups.
Meanwhile, Hamas has for quite some time subsisted on millions of dollars in donations from foreign donors like Qatar. The Islamic State in Syria has also survived on fees it collected in territories it controls.
