Antisemitism and Cryptocurrency – A Perfect Union?

Antisemitism and Cryptocurrency – A Perfect Union?

Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that that are not under the control of a central bank, a government or any other authority. Bitcoin is the most famous and widely traded cryptocurrency on the market. Created in 2008 by an anonymous person or group using the name Satoshi Nakamoto, it emerged at a time when distrust of the traditional financial system had been high, following to the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. Since 2009, many other cryptocurrencies have emerged, and their combined aggregate value is reported to be approximately US$2 trillion.

Cryptocurrencies typically operate using blockchain technologies – a form of public ledger of all transactions that gets distributed among computers and is extremely difficult to tamper with or change. Blockchains therefore offer high levels of security.

They also offer a certain level of anonymity, which varies depending on the digital coin. All transactions using Bitcoin, for example, are public, and anyone can see how much flowed from one account (known as ‘wallet’) to another. However, the owner of each wallet are inherently private unless they choose to identify themselves.

This makes it easier to transfer cryptocurrencies to proscribed organisations without detection. Some cryptocurrencies have even higher levels of privacy and anonymity.

It is possible to obtain cryptocurrencies through private trade and donation. However, most people use asset exchanges where crypto-assets can be bought and sold with ease. These exchanges can see millions or billions of pounds of trade volume daily. Because these trades happen inside the exchange platforms, the flow of transactions between wallets may not be publicly visible on the blockchain.

Their decentralised nature and the difficulty in tracing transactions, has made cryptocurrencies popular among crime syndicates, terror organisations and extremists, including far-right groups. However, it should be stressed that the vast majority of people using cryptocurrency have no connection to extremists, criminals or terrorists.