Blockchain analysis firm Elliptic reported that Dogecoin (DOGE) was found in connection with illegal activities, including Ponzi schemes, terrorism financing and child pornography material.
Elliptic said DOGE is growing in popularity as a means of payment. Besides being used for legitimate transactions, DOGE is also increasingly in demand by criminals where DOGE is worth millions of USD related to illicit activities.
“Most of the illegal activities carried out consist of fraud and Ponzi schemes, but also involve serious crimes namely terrorism financing and the sale of child pornographic material,” Elliptic said. decrypt.
Regarding DOGE, which is increasingly being used for terrorism financing, Elliptic cited a July 2021 confiscation order by Israel’s National Bureau of Counter-Terrorism Financing of 84 crypto addresses.
The address group is believed to be linked to the Hamas military group or used for terrorist activities. The addresses contained US$40,235 worth of DOGE.
Use of Dogecoin (DOGE) Related to Illegal Activities
The Elliptic report also sheds light on a number of child pornography sellers operating in darknet and the internet accepts payments in DOGE.
Although the number of DOGEs reported to be involved stands at just under US$3,000, analysts caution the case indicates criminals are increasingly using cryptocurrencies to evade detection.
The most common crimes related to DOGE are theft, fraud and schemes Ponzi. Elliptic said there have been more than 50 cases related to this activity where criminals have managed to earn DOGE worth hundreds of millions of USD.
These activities include a US$6 billion PlusToken Ponzi scheme involving the confiscation of US$20 million DOGE by Chinese authorities in 2020. Another case is the theft of US$119 million DOGE by a Turkish Ponzi scheme in 2021.
Right-wing extremists also look to DOGE when it doesn’t have traditional fundraising options. According to Elliptic, this group consists of news sites, blog and platform videos contain extreme content.
An example of a site in this group is Infowars which claims to be fighting globalism and promoting a pro-humanity future. Infowars has received DOGE worth US$1,700.
The Elliptic report supports the findings of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Last year, the FATF reported that extreme right groups were increasingly using cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC) and privacy coins.
DOGE is now ranked as the 10th largest crypto asset with a market cap of US$8 billion. [ed]