Foundation for the Defense of Democracies: terrorists more interested in Bitcoin due to its growth

The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) states that terrorists started to use Bitcoin wallets and post info about them online more often than before. The research data is based on what is called OSINT, or open-source intelligence. According to the researchers, the outburst of terrorists’ attention to Bitcoin matches the time when this cryptocoin hit the record of $10,000 per unit.

As the blockchain of Bitcoin is transparent, one can trace transactions on any account. While the FDD did not conduct a mempool scan like other researchers who used this procedure to piece together wallet and telephone numbers posted online to deanonymize drug merchants, they have found out that there wasn’t much money sent on the wallets of terrorists: one of the biggest donations was $685 later used for establishing a camp in Syria and other spending related to combat.

However, the recent case with a $65,000 donation (the contributor is caught and likely to spend next 50 years in prison) leads to believe that the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies have not studied all Bitcoin wallets of terrorists.