Dogecoin (DOGE), the market’s leading “meme” cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is allegedly used by illicit actors in “the most serious types of crimes”, according to a recent document from the blockchain analytics firm elliptical.
The report states that while Dogecoin has grown in popularity as a means of payment for legitimate goods, it has also caught the attention of fraudulent actors.
Elliptic claims to have identified “millions of dollars in Dogecoin transactions linked to illicit activities”, primarily comprising frauds, scams and Ponzi schemes, as well as more serious crimes, such as terrorist financing and hardware sellers. child pornography (child sexual abuse material, CSAM).
The company highlighted the use of Dogecoin for terrorist financing, citing a 2021 seizure order by the Israel National Counter Terrorist Financing Bureau (National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing) against 84 crypto addresses believed to be linked to the militant group Hamas, which contained 40,235 USD in DOGE.
“While a small sum compared to Bitcoin and Tether, this example demonstrates the awareness, and growing adoption, of a wide variety of crypto-assets by groups such as Hamas” , says the report.
The report also revealed that “a small and growing number” of CSAM vendors operating on both the darknet and the clearnet accept payments in Dogecoin.
However, the level of usage of Dogecoin within the CSAM community “is currently very low, with less than [USD] 3,000 payments identified so far worldwide,” the report adds.
Dogecoin is also used by illicit actors in darknet markets. For instance, Just Killwhich describes itself as a “service to saturate servers” (via phone and email), allows users to deposit funds and make donations using Dogecoin.
The meme cryptocurrency has also been used to raise funds for far-right groups, according to Elliptic.
Created in 2013 as a joke, Dogecoin has become one of the most important cryptocurrencies in the world and owes much of its success to the support of the CEO of You’re here and SpaceX, Elon Musk.
This Thursday morning, DOGE is the 11th currency by market capitalization with 8.5 billion dollars. It rose 3.2% in one day and 0.5% in one week, currently trading at $0.063.
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