Israeli blockchain intelligence firm Whitestream says Canadian based payment gateway, CoinPayments, were used to convert from Bitcoin to Fiat Money

Several international media reports highlight that Bitcoins and Altcoins were used to back the suicide bombers connected to ISIS who bombed several hotels and Christian churches in Sri Lanka that killed 253 individuals on 21^st April 2019. Reports note that the information was released by the Israeli Blockchain intelligence firm Whitestream.

“Apparently, ISIS individuals used the firm CoinPayments in order to exchange the BTC for fiat currencies” the reports note. According to Whitestream, large transactions were processed from ISIS wallets that were used to raise contributions in Bitcoin to CoinPayments to be able to extract cash from these wallets.

“The firm informed that the balances of the wallets that the exchange had moved from US $ 500,000 to US $ 4.5 million just a day before the Easter attacks. Meanwhile, the funds on these wallets fell immediately after the attacks” the reports note.

Nonetheless, the firm informed that they had processed large transactions but they deny having any link with terrorist groups such as ISIS.

“CoinPayments admits that their wallet was involved but denied that it is connected to ISIS. It is possible that the company is not aware of the usage of their wallets, perhaps because ISIS uses straw companies to transfer money,”

Meanwhile the blockchain analysis firm – Whitestream explained that they have been monitoring ISIS-linked Bitcoin wallets in the last few years. Specifically, they have paid close attention to a specific wallet that was receiving donations actively in different periods of time. The transactions went directly to CoinPayments from two wallets from ISIS.

Reports said that this is not the first time that Whitestream is able to find a connection between Bitcoin and terrorist groups. Further a few months ago, Whitestream had explained that Hamas received funds from different individuals. These funds were then sent to Binance and converted into cash through Bitfinex.

According to many Sri Lankan Facebook users, a country that has over 7 million Facebook accounts or one third among 22 million populace, many outlines that Binance and Bitfinex had been extensively advertising targeting the Facebook users in last 3 years. Reports note that although Bitcoin and Altcoins - virtual currencies can be used to back illegal activities, they allow individuals to avoid hyperinflation and process cross-border transactions when it is not possible to use traditional systems. Bitcoin and digital currencies make payments more efficient and transactions faster and cheaper for users.

- Reporting by Devendra Francis