The jihad is funded by bitcoin…
That’s what the government would have you believe.
And thanks to its lackeys at The Wall Street Journal, the anti-bitcoin crowd has snagged many people with this ridiculous narrative… hook, line, and sinker.
On October 18, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and a coalition of lawmakers (105 in total) sent a letter to the Treasury Department expressing “grave concern (that) Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad raised millions of dollars in crypto.”
They cited a Journal article that claimed the terrorist groups raised $130 million through crypto.
These lawmakers also called on the Biden administration to do something about the “threat that crypto poses in the fight against terrorism.”
In today’s essay, I’ll explain why these political hacks are wrong… And why anyone who tries to raise money on the blockchain to fund terrorism is a bloody idiot?
Who Are We to Believe?
Chainalysis is the world’s leading blockchain forensic analysis group.
In a recent blog post, she analyzed one of the digital wallets referred to by the Journal article and cited by Warren and her coalition of lawmakers.
Chainalysis states, “Of the roughly $82 million in cryptocurrency received by this address, about $450,000 worth of funds were transferred from the known terror-affiliated wallet.”
Now, I don’t know about you… But $450,000 and $130 million seem quite some ways apart.
Meanwhile, Chainalysis went on to explain that…
To the untrained eye, it might appear that $82 million worth of cryptocurrency was raised for terror financing in the example above. However, it is much more likely that a small portion of these funds were intended for terrorist activity, and most of the funds processed through the suspected service provider were unrelated.
(You can see the firm’s complete analysis here. It’s worth a read.)
It’s pretty clear the “untrained eye” Chainalysis refers to the 105 lawmakers and the nitwits at the Journal.
However, anyone who knows a thing or two about how blockchains function – that means people like you and me – will see the idea of crypto-funded terrorism is ridiculous.
All the above raises this question: Who are we to believe?
A group of politicians citing a Journal article? Or the world’s leading forensic blockchain analysts?
I’ll let you decide.
Anyone Using Bitcoin for Crime Is an Idiot
If you’re using Bitcoin or any other public blockchain to fund your terrorist or criminal organization, you’re a bloody idiot.
Anyone can see and trace every single transaction that has ever taken place on the Bitcoin blockchain. It’s designed that way for transparency.
It’s a digital version of the old paper accounting ledger. Remember those?
You’d make every entry by hand so that come tax time, you know exactly where every dollar you earned and spent went.
Since the Bitcoin blockchain is a digitized global ledger… It leaves the perfect “paper trail” of transaction history.
Here’s how Daily editor Teeka Tiwari put it:
Using Bitcoin to commit crimes is just the dumbest thing a criminal could do. That’s because the transparency of Bitcoin’s public blockchain means the world can see how you spend and move your money.
Every transaction can be traced from one crypto wallet to another… So, if law enforcement ties a single criminal to even one Bitcoin transaction, they can unravel the entire criminal network’s finances.
That’s why cash is the preferred tool for criminals and terrorists. About $3.5 billion per year is funneled into terrorist organizations. Do you think some terrorist in a cave is going to accept Bitcoin over good old-fashioned American greenbacks?
Try buying an AK-47 in Afghanistan with bitcoin. I wish you good luck with that.
This is why the idea of millions or billions in funds being shuffled through Bitcoin’s blockchain for terrorism funding is ridiculous.
It’s also why Chainalysis can say that the figure is closer to $450,000 than $130 million.
The firm’s analysts can see everything.
They know where the transactions have been and are going to. And they can see the terrorist-linked wallets and understand what’s going in and what’s coming out.
That is what the trained eye can do. And it’s why the untrained eye is so unreliable.
It’s why you can’t trust what the politicians tell you. They’re simply trying to bend the narrative to fit their agendas.
It’s why you must question them when they tell you they can “absolutely afford” to fund not one but two wars overseas.
It would be best to question them when they tell you a central bank digital currency will benefit you.
It’s why you must question them when they tell you that the U.S. dollar will remain the stable reserve currency of the world.
Is that true?
Not according to Teeka. He believes we’re witnessing the Final Collapse of the U.S. dollar.
That means the purchasing power of the dollars in your wallet, bank account, and retirement savings will vanish into thin air.
According to Teeka, an unprecedented government event scheduled for this month will trigger the Final Collapse.
Last week, Teeka held an event to discuss five cryptos he believes investors should buy to protect themselves from the dollar collapse.
You can replay the stream right here.
The last time the dollar had a similar crisis, Teeka’s readers had the chance to make 27 times, 56 times, and even 850 times their money… in less than two years.
So, be wary of the negative narratives that politicians are peddling. It’s their best interest to keep you in assets they can manage and control.
The more investors who move from traditional finance to crypto… The louder and more extreme their narratives will get.
They’ll happily bend the truth or completely manipulate a narrative to protect their wealth and power base.
Crypto is a direct threat to them. That’s why they lean on the mainstream media to fulfill their agenda.
But when you’ve got a whole team of “trained eyes” in your corner, as you do here at the Daily, you’ll get the information you need to do something about it.
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. If you would like more information, you can look at our T&C.