Terrorist financing trends: Crypto in decline?

August 2023 update on crypto & TF

Hello from New York City! I was invited to a New York Police Department conference to discuss the state of cryptocurrency use amongst terrorists, and it sure is nice to be back in the city. It’s been years since I’ve been here, and it’s changed a lot. I get to enjoy two full days of conference, plus meet with some colleagues around town. All in all a pretty great work trip. But you’re here to learn about how terrorists are using cryptocurrency, not be regaled with tales of my work travels, so let’s get into it.

Last year, I estimated that we’d soon see about 20% of terrorist financing cases involve cryptocurrency. I thought that it was an increasing trend from the estimates that I had in my book, Illicit Money. In 2020, I observed that about 10% of terrorist financing cases involved cryptocurrency in some way. However, when I looked at the numbers in advance of my talk in New York, I saw something different: