The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has released a report examining the broad links between the far right and Bitcoin., many of whom made large amounts of money in cryptocurrency.
In a Hatewatch report on December 9, The SPLC shared its findings on how right-wing extremists and white supremacists discuss and use cryptocurrencies claiming that many have amassed “tens of millions of dollars” from the crypto donations they have received..
The report How Cryptocurrency Revolutionized the White Supremacist Movement (How Cryptocurrencies Revolutionized The White Supremacist Movement) identified and collected over 600 cryptocurrency addresses associated with white supremacists and other prominent right-wing extremists to reach its conclusions.
One of the main claims it makes is that although less than a quarter of Americans own cryptocurrencies:
“Hatewatch strove to find any prominent global far-right actor who hasn’t embraced cryptocurrencies to at least some degree.”
The most common reasons why these individuals used cryptocurrencies was because they were unseated or because they wanted to hide their transactions.
Stefan Molyneaux, described by Wikipedia as a far-right white nationalist and white supremacist, has been accepting donations in Bitcoin for eight years.. The SPLC noted that the first Bitcoin wallet that has been linked to Molyneaux dates back to January 25, 2013 and that its followers have donated a total of 1,250 Bitcoin since 2013.
Molyneaux has made estimated earnings of $ 3.28 million from $ 1.28 million in cryptocurrency donations. This is more than any other extremist studied for the SPLC report.
Greg Johnson, who goes by the name Karl Thorburn, has made more than $ 800,000 from cryptocurrencies. Johnson is the founder of the controversial website CounterCurrents.
The site asks its followers for donations, and they are paid in 12 different cryptocurrencies. He is currently trying to raise a goal of $ 200,000 to further his political ambitions.
Cryptocurrency critic and author David Gerard told the SPLC in an email that Although at first glance the amount of money these extremists are making from cryptocurrencies is alarming, it is not a reason to associate all cryptocurrencies with their actions.. He claimed:
“Bitcoin started in right-wing libertarianism … This is not at all the same as being a neo-Nazi subculture. That said, there is a higher proportion of Nazis there than you might expect just by chance, and the Bitcoin subculture doesn’t really bother to get its Nazis out of the community. “
While extensive, the SPLC report relies heavily on historical events and incidents that have been previously reported., as when the extremist news portal Daily Stormer cited the views of a Bitcoiner TV host in 2017 on the use of cryptocurrencies as a way to free its readers from what it sees as Jewish control of centralized banks.
Linked extremist Andrew “Weev” Auernheimer to privacy currency Monero, which facilitates private and untraceable transactions better than Bitcoin, with a 2017 podcast. when he said, “However, I have a lot of Monero. It’s my big bet right now. I’m very interested in Monero. I have a significant amount of it.”
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