Groups frowned upon by established authorities, such as terrorist groups and revolutionaries, may find cryptocurrency alluring, but sometimes things like this can happen …
The Justice Department seized $2 million worth of cryptocurrency from terror groups in the Middle East, federal prosecutors announced Thursday, marking the largest ever US government takeover of online terrorist financing.
The funds from ISIS, al Qaeda and the al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, would likely have been used by the groups to buy weapons and train would-be attackers, Justice Department officials said.
“Two million dollars is a lot of equipment that they can buy, a lot of weapons a lot of training that they can fund, a lot of tickets to fly people around the world,” said John Demers, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s national security division. “This is going to make a big difference in their operation.”[CNN/Politics]
The problem with hard currency is security: transportation and storage can be a chancy business. The ease of use and security of cryptocurrencies, though, have a counterbalance in ease of confiscation, or even just simple disappearance. If you’ve invested in bitcoin and the infrastructure disappears, too bad for you.
While hard currency can lose its value due to inflation, at least it still has some. Quick conversion into weapons or other supplies may be a wise move, depending on the stability of the country issuing the currency.
