US House Subpanel to Look at Crypto as Part of Examination of How Domestic Terrorism Is Funded

A subcommittee of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee is expected to discuss how to thwart current and future avenues relating to the financing of domestic terrorism, including cryptocurrency.

According to a memo on Monday, the Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy will hold its hearing on Thursday, Feb. 25.

Specifically, it will assess various means of terrorist financing including crowdfunding, charities, content subscriptions, cryptocurrencies and other funding mechanisms amid the backdrop of what occurred on Jan. 6.

As it relates to cryptocurrency, the hearing will assess "the overall increase" in its popularity as banks begin to tighten their measures against terror financing, the committee said.

Additionally, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has mentioned cryptocurrency use in terrorism as a key concern at least three times over the past five weeks.

A number of "high-profile, high-value" transfers to known "alt-right" cryptocurrency wallets have occurred including a post-death transfer of over $500,000 in bitcoin from a suicidal French extremist to a number of U.S.-based, extremist-owned wallets, the memo reads.

It is unclear whether those individuals were present at the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill insurrection in Washington, D.C. "Nonetheless, since it is increasingly common to find cryptocurrency wallet addresses listed on extremist websites, this is a potential and growing source of funds for domestic extremists."

See also: State of Crypto: The US Government Keeps Mentioning Terrorism

The hearing will feature a panel of five witnesses from various organizations including Iman Boukadoum, senior manager at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Lecia Brooks, executive director at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Daniel Glaser, former assistant secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, Daniel Rogers co-founder and CTO at the Global Disinformation Index and Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, CEO at Valens Global will also be joining.