WASHINGTON, DC / ACCESS Newswire / September 5, 2025 / On September 5, 2025, the Center East Media Analysis Institute (MEMRI) launched an vital new examine, “The Coming Storm – Part III: As The Trump Administration Moves To Limit Hamas, Hizbullah, Houthi, ISIS, And IRGC Use Of Cryptocurrency And Blockchain, More Action Will Be Needed As These Groups Quickly Adapt.” The examine’s lead writer is MEMRI Govt Director Steven Stalinsky, Ph.D., and it’s a part of the MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Risk Monitor (JTTM) and Cyber & Jihad Lab (CJL) initiatives.
This report is a comply with-as much as two main MEMRI research on terrorist and extremists use of cryptocurrency: the 2019 report on the specter of jihadis’ use of cryptocurrency, “The Coming Storm: Terrorists Utilizing Cryptocurrency,” in addition to the 2022 report on the specter of cryptocurrency use by home terrorist teams, “The Eye Of The Storm: [Domestic] Terrorists Utilizing Cryptocurrency – Part II – Following In Jihadis’ Footsteps, Neo-Nazis Flip To Cryptocurrency” by Dr. Stalinsky and the analysis workforce at MEMRI’s Violent Extremism Risk Monitor (VETM).
Within the preface to Part I of this sequence, the late Lt.-Gen (ret.) Vincent R. Stewart, former Deputy Commander of the US Cyber Command, former Protection Intelligence Company (DIA) director, and former Senior Advisor and Chairman of the MEMRI Board of Advisors, highlighted the examine’s groundbreaking analysis: “This examine is the primary important analysis of its form to indicate the scope of cryptocurrency use by terrorist organizations and their supporters, for fundraising and for financing assaults, buying gear, supporting fighters and their households, and extra.”
He went on to emphasise that report’s significance for all these concerned in counterterrorism efforts: “This landmark examine reveals undeniably that the way forward for terrorist funding and fundraising is occurring now. The risk is simply too vital to miss; it should be researched and options should be arrived at, and this examine is a crucial step on this route. It’s going to assist educate these concerned within the every day work of counterterrorism, and is a should-learn for all these in authorities, the army, and academia who’re involved about this harmful growth.”
This latest examine within the sequence notes that as a result of terrorist teams and their supporters now use and rely on cryptocurrency daily to fund their actions around the globe, a clearly outlined coverage to cease such exercise is lengthy overdue. The second administration of President Donald Trump has included the crypto business as a serious a part of its financial coverage – and it also needs to prioritize concentrating on terrorist use of cryptocurrency in its deliberate technique to deal with jihadi fundraising.
Lead writer Dr. Steven Stalinsky defined in regards to the report: “MEMRI’s workforce of researchers from its CJL and JTTM have present in 2025 a pointy improve in terrorist use of cryptocurrency, which is at its all-time excessive as these teams use continues to develop in sophistication. The Trump administration has completed a superb job at concentrating on these unhealthy actors, however they’re very adaptable and proceed to search for new methods to make use of cryptocurrency.”
Since 2014, members of the MEMRI CJL and JTTM workforce of researchers around the globe have been finding out terrorist teams’ reliance on cryptocurrency, intently monitoring which teams favor which varieties, the needs they use it for, and whether or not and below what circumstances they select to open new crypto wallets or proceed utilizing specific wallets. From their earliest use of crypto, they’ve continued to develop and develop that use, with little or no pushback from the businesses in query.
Totally credentialed members of media and authorities businesses could request a full copy of the report from JTTMSUBS@MEMRI.ORG.
To date jihadi teams have, on a spread of platforms, raised tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}, even presumably billions, in cryptocurrency for “funding area operations,” buying weapons and supplies for weapons manufacturing for finishing up “qualitative operations” to “confront terrorism and occupation.” Their appeals are in lots of languages – not simply Arabic, but additionally English, Turkish, Russian, Spanish, French, and lots of others spanning the globe.
Whereas jihadi teams have embraced main cryptocurrency wallets and firms, they’ve additionally began dabbling in creating their very own alternate options to attempt to fundraise for jihad overtly and covertly utilizing cryptocurrency. Throughout the U.S. and the West there are jihadi customers of cryptocurrency; different facilitators of this “monetary jihad” embody sheikhs and organizations, whose calls and outreach on this matter have escalated since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 assaults on Israel, amongst different examples.
Terrorist teams and followers from Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthi, ISIS, and the IRGCare documented on this examine.
ABOUT THE JIHAD & TERRORISM THREAT MONITOR (JTTM)
The MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Risk Monitor (JTTM) scrutinizes Islamist terrorism and violent extremism worldwide, with particular concentrate on exercise inside and emanating from the Arab world, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran, in addition to on assaults and exercise within the West impressed and inspired by the Islamic State (ISIS), Al-Qaeda, and different world jihad organizations. This exercise contains lone-wolf assaults by residents of Western international locations.
The JTTM screens imminent and potential threats posed by varied terrorist and violent extremist organizations – similar to ISIS, Al-Qaeda and its associates, and rising jihadi teams – and people. These threats, whether or not strategic, tactical, army, typical, non-typical, or cyber, could also be towards nationwide safety and public security within the U.S. and the West, or towards these international locations’ essential pursuits and property worldwide. It additionally examines and analyzes the ideological motivations behind these threats, and features a decade and a half of archives of unique content material on jihad and terrorism.
ABOUT THE CYBER & JIHAD LAB (CJL)
The MEMRI Cyber & Jihad Lab screens, tracks, interprets, and researches jihadi, secular, and different varieties of hacktivist teams and exercise emanating from the Center East, Iran, and South Asia, and research jihadis on social media and on-line, with a concentrate on their use of encryption and different applied sciences. It really works with tech corporations to assist provide you with options for coping with jihadis and terrorists on-line, and with legislatures to assist develop legal guidelines for tackling this phenomenon. It additionally assists the enterprise group in issues of cyberattacks and cyber threats from these sources.
MEMRI analysis and translation efforts on figuring out jihadi and hacktivist exercise have offered essential sources to coach policymakers, media organizations, the general public, and others. MEMRI asks on your assist to proceed this vital work by means of tax-deductible donations.
About MEMRI:
Exploring the Center East and South Asia by means of their media, MEMRI bridges the language hole between the West and the Center East and South Asia, offering well timed translations of Arabic, Farsi, Urdu-Pashtu, Dari, Turkish, Russian, and Chinese language media, in addition to unique evaluation of political, ideological, mental, social, cultural, and spiritual traits.
Based in February 1998 to tell the talk over U.S. coverage within the Center East, MEMRI is an unbiased, nonpartisan, nonprofit, 501(c)3 group. MEMRI’s principal workplace is situated in Washington, DC, with department places of work in varied world capitals. MEMRI analysis is translated into English, French, Polish, Japanese, Spanish and Hebrew.
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SOURCE: Center East Media Analysis Institute
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