UN Official Martynova Says Crypto-Terror Attacks Likely on the Rise

Cryptocurrency crime regulation has reached international attention, according to UN officials on Monday (Oct. 31).

Svetlana Martynova, a senior legal officer on the United Nations counter-terrorism committee, said in a Bloomberg interview that terrorist attacks linked to digital assets could quadruple from previously reported attacks.

Just a couple years ago, only 5% of UN-analyzed terror attacks were connected to crypto financing or trading, but “now we’re thinking that it may reach about 20%,” Martynova said.

The UN is taking this rise in crypto crime seriously, and it’s possible the a UN Security Council resolution could be brought to the table to specifically call on member states to tackle the risks linked to virtual assets and terrorism financing.

More people are using cryptocurrency for cross-border payments. According to a recent PYMNTS report, “Cryptocurrency, Blockchain and Cross-Border Payments: How Multinationals Leverage New Technology to Optimize Business Payments”, 58% of cross-border businesses use at least one cryptocurrency, and 56% of cross-border businesses use blockchain technology.

Presently, there are only 27 out of 98 UN jurisdictions that responded to a recent survey stating they had begun putting together crypto regulations. Even fewer are actually enforcing them.

Martynova also mentioned that while the threat of crypto-terror is growing, traditional financial terrorism methods, such as using illegal cash, are still prevalent among terrorists.

“Cash is always king,” she said. “It’s as anonymous as can be, it’s the most difficult to detect in reality.”

But if terrorist attacks are truly increasing at high rates, the international response to such attacks must be just as swift.

Read more: UK Financial Services Minister Proposes Cryptoasset Regulation

Crypto regulation is already gaining traction in the U.K. On Thursday (Oct. 27), U.K. Financial Services Minister Andrew Griffith put forward an amendment to a financial services bill that would increase regulations for cryptoassets. Griffith’s proposed revision expands the regulation requirements to cover promotions for all types of cryptoassets.