EU Cracking Down on Bitcoin Anonymity Sparks a Debate About Privacy
Despite Europol’s statement that anonymous currencies are hardly used by terrorists, the European Commission will propose stricter rules on encryption and payment privacy in a bid to curb the financing of terrorism. Why are government officials afraid of Bitcoin? Government officials explain that “there seems to be a risk that virtual currencies may be used by terrorist organizations to conceal financial transactions, as these can be carried out more anonymously.” By being able to track financial flows, authorities hope to cut off terrorists’ access to funds and thus prevent attacks such....
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