The transfer of 28.15 Bitcoins on December 8 to alt-right recipients may have been used to help organize the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol, investigators believe.
Bitcoins were valued at over $ 500,000 at the time of the transfer.
Chainanalysis reviewed the donations after Yahoo News alerted the organization to transactions in a French cryptocurrency.
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Groups allegedly involved in the transactions include VDARE, a US website that opposes immigration; Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website; and Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist podcaster.
There is no evidence that Fuentes participated in the riot.
WILLIAM EDWARDS / AFP through Getty Images)
At a press conference on Tuesday, the US attorney general, Michael Sherwin, called the scope of a federal investigation “unprecedented.”
The government is treating the case as a “significant counterterrorism or counterintelligence investigation” that includes a review of “cash travel, disposition, movement and communication records,” he said.
The Center for Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies in Monterey, California, said that some far-right groups have become adept at raising and transferring funds through cryptocurrencies.
“The Daily Stormer, for example, displays a prominent Bitcoin wallet address,” said the research organization in a report, “while its founder Andrew Anglin asks for Bitcoin on his Gab profile.”
Anglin’s profile goes straight to the pursuit of Bitcoin, while trying to separate from the “terrorists”.
Due to the activities of real terrorists, traditional means of collecting donations are not available. I try to make this as painless as possible. . . Bitcoin (or another cryptocurrency) remains the best option, always.
– Andrew Anglin, Daily Stormer, profile Gab
“Due to the activities of real terrorists, traditional means of collecting donations are not available,” he says in his profile. “I try to make this as painless as possible … Bitcoin (or another cryptocurrency) remains the best option, ever. ‘”
The Daily Stormer asks for donations in cryptocurrency. Its website states that the publication is “against violence” and that “anyone who suggests or promotes violence in the comments section will be immediately banned”.
Bitcoin is an open source software package and exists only virtually. It does not use a commercial bank for distribution and no government controls it.
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Bitcoin’s value has fluctuated widely in the past. The value of a Bitcoin was recently set at $ 39,637.70.
Bitcoin transactions are handled on blockchain, which creates an unbreakable and unalterable record. Although transactions are often anonymous, a skilled and computer-savvy investigator can track the sender and recipient.
A Bitcoin wallet address is permanent. If an individual or group discloses their Bitcoin wallet addresses as part of a fundraising effort, investigators can track all transactions.
“Experience in online messaging and recruitment, coupled with the fact that modern extremist groups are generally young and digitally experienced, means that these organizations and individuals have fundamentally changed the way extremists raise money,” The Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies said in a report.