Terrorist Groups Raise Funds from Digital Assets and Social Media

• Svetlana Martynova reported that terrorist groups were actively participating in crypto fields and social media.
• The report was submitted during the UN’s Counter-Terrorism Committee’s special meeting in New Delhi and Mumbai.
• The groups turned to cryptocurrency for funding their illegal terrorist activities.

At the “Special Meeting” held by the UN’s Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) in New Delhi and Mumbai, it was reported that terrorist groups like ISIL and Al-Qaeda have been actively participating in the crypto space for funding their terrorist activities.

The UN’s Counter-Terrorism Committee’s meeting, held from October 28 to 29, focused on confronting the use of new technologies for terrorist activities, during which Svetlana Martynova, the coordinator of CTED declared that the terrorist groups were active in virtual assets and social media for raising funds for their illegal activities.

Though organizations like the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), designed to confront terror financing had already taken necessary steps to avoid the involvement of terrorists in crypto platforms, Martynova commented that more measures should be taken to restrict the group from accumulating funds.

Martynova added that though, traditionally, the “predominant methods” of terrorist funding were cash and “hawala”, as technology advanced, their method also had advanced. She told that “we know terrorists adapt to the evolution of conditions around them and as technologies evolve they adapt as well”.

Additionally, Martynova commented that the terrorists had been misusing cryptocurrencies:

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

Furthermore, Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, stated that along with the increasing potential of modern technologies to improve human conditions, the intensity of the harm they can bring also reaches beyond expectation.

It is to be noted that Martynova’s suggestion for restricting such unlawful and illicit activities was to make necessary arrangements in all the countries to prioritize scrutinizing risks and vulnerabilities in the crypto space.

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