Islamic State reportedly uses Bitcoin for anonymous financial transactions

Tel Aviv-based senior analyst at Singaporean cyberintelligence company claimed he had managed to track down an IS website via a referral on a Turkish forum. The unnamed site contained messages by a user nicknamed Abu-Mustafa, explaining how to send donations to the Islamists.

 The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group is using cybercurrency bitcoin to carry out anonymous financial transactions, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Thursday.

"Due to the increasing efforts of social media websites to close ISIS-related accounts, it was estimated that global jihad activists would seek refuge in the dark web," Ido Wulkan, a Tel Aviv-based senior analyst at Singaporean cyberintelligence company S2T, was quoted as saying by Haaretz.

The dark web consists of private networks where content is hidden from standard search engines and connections can only be made between trusted peers.

 Wulkan claimed he had managed to track down an IS website via a referral on a Turkish forum. The unnamed site contained messages by a user nicknamed Abu-Mustafa, explaining how to send donations to the Islamists.

"Donations may be made through various means both monetary and physical… though anything besides economic support through Bitcoin must be approved by the board and taken with much caution due to the security apparatus' recent crackdown on any and all Islamic change fronts here in the United States," Abu-Mustafa allegedly wrote.

The user's account is said to have been shut down by the FBI.