Domestic extremists who receive and send money via cryptocurrency are using major online exchange companies, and those platforms put almost no limits on the activities of hate groups or their sympathizers.That’s the key finding of a new report from the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, provided exclusively to USA TODAY. The advocacy organization found users sent money to white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups including the Goyim Defense League, NSC-131 and the National Socialist Movement, and to online extremist propaganda outlets like Counter-Currents and Radio Albion, all using major cryptocurrency exchanges. The report focuses on only a small number of extremists and extremist groups, which the ADL said it could track because they had posted their cryptocurrency information publicly. But it raises larger questions about the extent to which extremists thrive on cryptocurrency without significant pushback. Those groups have been subject to “deplatforming” or constraints in other areas of online technology where they once flourished, such as social media platforms and payment apps. The ADL says cryptocurrency exchanges – which transfer funds that can then flow untracked into private bank accounts – merit similar scrutiny. The ADL tracked 15 extremist individuals and organizations that last year moved cryptocurrency into or out of 22 service providers, including mainstream companies like Binance and Coinbase, the report said. That represents a small sample of the hundreds of extremists and groups the ADL is monitoring.As of Dec. 1, 2023, only one of those service providers has an explicit policy banning the funding of hateful or extremist activity, the ADL report says. Though several other providers prohibit hateful or extremist postings on their sites, they don’t specifically prohibit extremists using their platforms to raise money for their activities, the ADL report concludes. Cryptocurrency experts say they are seeing an increase in transactions from known extremists.“Extremists, terrorists and criminals of all stripes seem to be turning increasingly to cryptocurrency exchanges for raising, transferring and disseminating funds,” said Eswar Prasad, a Cornell University professor and author of “The Future of Money.”It’s impossible to know what these extremists eventually spent this money on, just as it’s hard to tell how many fringe groups are reaping windfalls from cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency experts say they are seeing an increase in transactions from known extremists.“Extremists, terrorists and criminals of all stripes seem to be turning increasingly to cryptocurrency exchanges for raising, transferring and disseminating funds,” said Eswar Prasad, a Cornell University professor and author of “The Future of Money.”It’s impossible to know what these extremists eventually spent this money on, just as it’s hard to tell how many fringe groups are reaping windfalls from cryptocurrencies. As antisemitic incidents, hate crimes and other acts of hatred surge in the U.S, Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL’s CEO, says cryptocurrency’s laissez faire approach poses a significant danger. He called on exchanges to develop policies that counter the financing of hate and extremism and on regulators to provide guidance to the industry.As antisemitic incidents, hate crimes and other acts of hatred surge in the U.S, Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL’s CEO, says cryptocurrency’s laissez faire approach poses a significant danger. He called on exchanges to develop policies that counter the financing of hate and extremism and on regulators to provide guidance to the industry.“It is more important than ever to identify and disrupt the funding underpinning hateful actors and their bigotry,” Greenblatt told USA TODAY in a statement. “The surge in hate demands not just awareness but uncompromising action to dismantle the financial infrastructure that fuels extremist agendas.”Representatives of the Goyim Defense League and the National Socialist Movement did not respond to requests for comment for this story. Cryptocurrency emerged as a safe haven for white supremacists and other extremists after a crackdown by internet payment processors such as like Stripe and PayPal following the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. Far-right agitators have pushed back against “debanking” − turning off the financial spigot because of extremist speech or activities − and say it violates their free speech rights.Christopher Pohlhaus, who runs a Northeastern U.S. neo-Nazi group and has marched with NSC-131, told USA TODAY the ADL “would try to get us banned from a racquetball tournament.”#CryptoNazi #news #cryptonews #NewsofCrypto #newsTrading