Bitcoin is being presented to the world as ‘The Big Bad Wolf’ to the world ever since Paris was attacked by terrorists. The notorious terrorist organization, ISIL claimed responsibility for these attacks. The tragedy has intensified the war against ISIL, France has now declared war on ISIL. Paris has sent its fighter jets to pound ISIL targets in Syria and surrounding regions. Meanwhile on the cyber front, hacktivist groups across the world are targeting ISIL’s cyber network, social media channels and other communication lines, trying to bring them down.
Within days of the terrorist attack, the European Union declared that bitcoin and other non-banking payment systems are responsible for funding those terrorists who attacked Bataclan theatre. However, there was no evidence to back the claims until a hacktivist group, Ghost Security Group claimed that they have uncovered over 9000 bitcoins worth close to $3 million in bitcoin wallets belonging to ISIL. The Ghost Security Group’s statement was the final nail in the coffin, which led the interior and security ministries of European Union to convey a meeting. The meeting was mainly to discuss ways to regulate bitcoin and other non-banking financial transactions, including gift cards, prepaid cards, precious metals etc.
While the EU is busy taking precaution against a small percentage of funds being transacted or held as bitcoin, the Ghost Security Group has clarified that bitcoin is only a small portion of funds held by ISIL. While speaking to Inverse, an online publication, a member of Ghost Security Group clarified that there are multiple bitcoin accounts that mention Islamic struggle as a cause, but almost all of them except for one have turned out to be a scams so far.
The Ghost Security Group has also agreed that the European Union has blown the whole thing out of proportion and it is no mistake of bitcoin or bitcoin community. They go further to mention that comparing bitcoin with terror funding is like blaming Toyota and American weapons as terror affiliates.