IG cells* in Tajikistan and other countries are sponsored through crypto exchanges – TRM Labs
Date: 2023-07-24 Author: Karina Ziganova Categories: BLOCKCHAIN, IN WORLD
Cells of the terrorist organization ISIS receive financial support through cryptocurrency in Tajikistan, Indonesia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The terrorist organization ISIS, banned in the Russian Federation, receives active financial support in stablecoin through crypto exchanges in Tajikistan, Indonesia, Pakistan and Afghanistan. This was reported in their blog by TRM Labs analysts. Most of the transactions are carried out by attackers in the stablecoin Tether (USDT) based on the TRON network (TRC-20 standard), experts noted.
In Tajikistan, TRM Labs documented multiple instances of USDT being used to fund the development of Vilayat Khorasan, a radical ISIS cell that targets Afghanistan. One of the crypto wallets affiliated with the terrorist organization in 2022 owned an address with a balance of $2 million. TRM Labs claims to have notified the exchange through which they cashed out cryptocurrency for ISIS. It is unclear what kind of trading platform was in question.
It is reported that the exchange informed local authorities about the activity of the suspicious address. Experts believe that the sponsor of ISIS was Tajik Shamil Khukumatov, one of the leaders of IG-Khorasan. It was he who was arrested in Turkey in the summer of 2022. That same year, a couple of months after Khukumatov's arrest, Vilayat Khorasan carried out a terrorist attack in Kabul, Afghanistan.
In Indonesia, for the whole of 2022, TRM Labs analysts were able to track more than $517,000 in USDT, which, through an Indonesian crypto exchange, sponsored IS cells in Syria. All transfers were also made through the TRON network. Experts did not disclose the name of the crypto exchange.
In Pakistan, IS cells began accepting cryptocurrency in the second half of 2022, according to TRM Labs. According to the calculations of blockchain analysts, the turnover of USDT in the wallets of local representatives of the IG over the past twelve months amounted to about $40,000. What exactly the cryptocurrency went for is unclear. In Afghanistan, TRM Labs was only able to track the crypto wallets of Al-Azaim, the ISIS media cell. According to them, about $10,000 passed through Al-Azaim.
All of the above countries are united by blockchain activity by one country — Syria. It is there that the key center of cryptocurrency turnover for ISIS and its supporters remains, according to TRM Labs.
