Department of Defense to study bitcoin as possible terrorist threat

Department of Defense to study bitcoin as possible terrorist threa

A division within the Department of Defense is investigating whether the digital currency bitcoin is a possible terrorist threat.

The Combatting Terrorism Technical Support Office is spearheading a program that will help the military understand how modern technologies could pose threats to national security, including bitcoin and other virtual currencies, the International Business Times reported.

A memo detailing some of the CTTSO projects states, “The introduction of virtual currency will likely shape threat finance by increasing the opaqueness, transactional velocity, and overall efficiencies of terrorist attacks,” as reported by Bitcoin Magazine, according to IBTimes.

One of the greatest concerns reportedly rests with the anonymity afforded bitcoin transactions. The transactions are public, but the people involved in the operations are unnamed.