White House On Bitcoin: Democrats Want Details On Terrorist’s Account

The White House has two US democrats asking the Trump Administration to reveal details about the recent seizure of more than 300 cryptocurrency accounts that are operated by terrorist groups so let’s find out more in today’s bitcoin news.

The house democrats in the White House, Josh Gottheimer and Emanuel Cleaver asked the Trump Administration to provide more details on the recent seizure of BTC and other cryptocurrency assets from terrorist organizations such as ISIS, Hamas, and al-Quaeda. The US Department of Justice seized more than 300 virtual accounts containing an undisclosed amount of cryptocurrencies that belonged to multiple terrorist organizations.

The three major terrorist groups had employed different tactics such as fake fundraising campaigns, money laundering networks, and advertisements to acquire Bitcoin and other digital assets. The FBI and IRS managed to track multiple BTC transactions from the blockchain and connected them to known accounts operated by the terrorist groups. Earlier this week, the representatives asked the Trump Administration to reveal more details about the entire operation and the seizure of crypto assets:

 “It is vital that Members of the Subcommittee on National Security, International Development, and Monetary Policy receive a briefing, at the appropriate classification level, on this action, the largest ever seizure of online terrorist financing, from the Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury on this investigation.”

Cleaver is the chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security International Development and Monetary Policy while Gottheimer is a member of the subcommittee. The DOJ claimed that this was the biggest seizure of crypto accounts from terrorist groups but the two reps believe that these organizations strive to employ digital assets even more because of their anonymity.

The reported that they requested from the Treasury Department a plan to confront similar operations by malicious actors that are targeting the US financial networks:

 “This will further inform the Subcommittee on what legislative actions we should be undertaking to provide regulators and law enforcement the proper resources and tools to continue to address the illicit use of cryptocurrency and disrupt terrorist organizations’ financial networks.”

By looking at the topic of crypto usage for illegal activities, one can conclude that they are preferred by bad actors but other reports show that cash and fiat currencies are still the most utilized payment methods by criminals.