Europol Report Says No Evidence Was Found of ISIS Using Bitcoin

Europol, the top European police organization published a report titled “Changes in modus operandi of Islamic State terrorist attacks,” on January 18 which outlined that they have found no extensive evidence of Islamic State using Bitcoin or various other cryptocurrency.

Europol’s claim came out in light of a review by 29 EU member states a week after the deadly Paris attacks. Soon after the Paris attacks, various hacktivist groups connected the use of Bitcoin by terrorists to fund the attacks. However, according to the Europol report, they have not found any evidence to confirm this allegation.

“There is no evidence however of IS-financing networks in existence. Despite third party reporting suggesting the use of anonymous currencies like Bitcoin by terrorists to finance their activities, this has not been confirmed by law enforcement,” said the report.

The report went on to claim that “The travel of foreign fighters to the conflict zones is likely to be funded by the travelers themselves with both legal means and criminal activities, such as frauds.”

While there are literally hundreds of cryptocurrencies floating on the Internet, the Europol only mentioned about Bitcoin and the world came up only once in eight-page report.

The use of Bitcoin of terrorist organizations became a hot media topic after the Paris attacks, especially since security experts warned law enforcement agencies in Europe that ISIS may try to use the flood of refugees from conflict zones to infiltrate inside the continent.

But, the Europol report would certainly debunk that claim. Furthermore, Europol claimed that “IS terrorist cells currently operating in the EU are largely domestic and/or locally based,” which will further alienate the conspiracy theorist about the possible use of Bitcoin to send funds from ISIS to Europe in order to orchestrate attacks.

Besides the financial aspects, the review also stated some interesting key finding. For example, it mentioned that “a significant portion of foreign fighters have been diagnosed with mental problems prior to joining IS.”