The system of informal money transfers known as “hawala” is hard to control. That is why terrorists may prefer it to bitcoin, says the Head of Russian E-Money association Dr Viktor Dostov.
In the interview to “Kommersant” newspaper Dostov said that terrorists do not need much money to organise their attacks.
To collect money for these ‘cheap’ attacks terrorists can use many ways, and bitcoin is by no means the easiest way to do it, says Dostov.
The bitcoin system is not totally anonymous, claims Dostov. “Real anonymity is a very hard work. Our experience shows that, while it can be achieved for a single electronic money or bitcoin operation, you can hardly maintain it on a regular basis”, he notes.
The ISIL attacks in Paris stimulated European powers to revise their rules for financial operations. Some EU officials propose to make electronic transactions subject to rigorous scrutiny.
On 19 November the Reuters news agency reported that EU countries planned a crackdown on bitcoin, quoting a draft document for EU interior and justice ministers. The document contains passages about “strengthening controls.”
Among the proposed measures of security, the paper suggests to “strengthen controls of non-banking payment methods such as electronic/anonymous payments and virtual currencies.”
The hawala system allows people to transfer cash money using a special network of agents (hawaladars) as an intermediary. The sender goes to a hawaladar in town A, gives him money and a password. The recipient goes to a hawaladar in town B, quotes the password and receives the money. Hawaladars do not need to exchange any documents, just a phone call would do. This allows the system to work even in very challenging conditions, when all other means of communication are not available.
Roman Korizky
