Despite what some have been led to believe, “cryptocurrency isn’t the currency of choice for criminals,” according to Perianne Boring, CEO of the Chamber of Digital Commerce.
Writing in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on Monday, Boring hit back at the accusations made by the same newspaper earlier this month that Palestinian terror group Hamas “have raised millions in crypto.”
According to Boring, groups like Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah have raised money through various means, including the use of traditional banking services, hawala networks, and state funding, while crypto makes up only “a small portion of that.”
The Chamber of Digital Commerce CEO further said that law enforcement agencies are trained to track actors that use crypto for illicit purposes, and noted that their job doing so have become easier due to the transparent nature of blockchain networks.
“While new technologies are often exploited by bad actors, they often serve as more valuable tools for law enforcement than for criminals. The blockchain makes concealing illicit funds through cryptocurrencies ineffective,” Boring said, before concluding:
“The record must reflect that cryptocurrency isn’t the currency of choice for criminals.”
