In a piece of recent news, an immigrant from Bosnia living in Tulalip, Washington has been charged with illegal bitcoin use for arms export and violation of the Arms Export Control Act, 1976. Hany Veletanlic has been given 7 years in federal prison when he was accused of modifying guns and gun parts and sending them to Sweden. At the time of arrest, he was in possession of several other illegal items.
However, law enforcement agencies in the US and across the globe, like the US Homeland security are particularly worried about the increased use of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin to fund terrorism. Several meetings have been held by the US House Financial Services Committee this year to discuss the illegal bitcoin use by Neo-Nazis and Hamas.
Illegal bitcoin use bothering Israel, India, and Britain
Several countries have reported similar concerns of illegal bitcoin use to fund extremist groups and their violent activities. However, recent studies have shown a totally opposite picture. It was widely assumed that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are being used for illicit activities since the infamous online drug market Silk Road but cryptocurrencies have been used for noble causes like distributing food packets in Jordan, helping countries like Venezuela through their inflation period.
As the anti-crypto advocates gain have been painting a bad picture of crypto, they fail to notice that fiat currency and online transactions play a major role in terrorist activities. Looking at the stats, transactions involving crypto are mostly legal. That is why the UN and UNICEF have been working with blockchain and crypto-giants like ETH to achieve SDGs.
Policymakers from east to the west need to realize the benefits and the demand of using cryptocurrencies in the future. Blockchain technology is a revolutionary technology and it will change the world. Regulatory bodies need to develop new policies and laws that work with crypto-adoption. In doing so, it will help to reduce illegal activities and transactions.
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