Supporters of Sweden’s largest neo-Nazi group donated crypto through centralized exchanges and mining pools, blockchain researchers say. According to a report from Chainalysis, the Nordic Resistance Movement, the largest neo-Nazi group in Sweden designated as a terrorist group by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), has received more than $90,000 in crypto through donations since 2015.
The New York-based blockchain forensics company says the neo-Nazi group, founded in 1997, is known for promoting white supremacy and anti-Semitic beliefs, and its activities led to a ban in Finland in 2020 for violating national laws .
Chainalysis says the group publicly relied on crypto donations because sanctions prevented them from opening traditional bank accounts. The group’s branches in several European countries, including Norway, Denmark and Finland, accepted donations in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Tether (USDT), Cosmos (ATOM), Monero (XMR) and Cardano (ADA) among others.
According to Chainalysis data, addresses controlled by the Nordic Resistance Movement received at least “several thousand dollars in donations” from users on “mainstream exchanges” as well as from a “mining pool,” although specific platforms were not identified.
The revelations come amid increased global attention on the misuse of crypto, with the US recently sanctioning entities in the Russian fintech sector. In late March, OFAC sanctioned 13 entities and two individuals operating in Russia’s fintech sector for offering services to circumvent U.S. sanctions.
The sanctions target companies that serve Russia’s “core financial infrastructure” and limit Russia’s use of the international financial system to pursue its war against Ukraine. Brian Nelson, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, emphasized that the goal is to hinder Russia’s ability to seek alternative payment routes as a means of circumventing sanctions.
Source: https://cryptobenelux.com/2024/06/17/neonazi-groep-in-zweden-ontvangt-donaties-via-crypto/
