- Boko Haram has increasingly used cryptocurrencies and digital finance to transfer millions in illicit funds.
- About one-third of Nigerians rely on digital currencies for daily transactions, creating vulnerabilities in financial oversight.
- Nigerian authorities have frozen over 1,100 bank accounts suspected of aiding terrorism in 2024.
- Experts state that anonymous crypto transactions make tracking and disrupting Boko Haram’s funding more difficult.
- Court convictions and regulatory efforts are ongoing, but officials say stronger policies and better cooperation are needed to curb terrorist financing.
Boko Haram is using cryptocurrencies and mobile money platforms to move millions of dollars gained from ransoms, looting, and forced donations in Nigeria and surrounding regions. The group’s reliance on digital payments has grown, raising concerns among authorities aiming to stop terrorist financing.
Experts estimate that roughly one-third of Nigeria’s 200 million citizens use digital currency for everyday needs like paying bills and topping up mobile phones. From July 2023 to June 2024, Nigerians traded about $59 billion in cryptocurrency, according to Chain Analysis. As the Nigerian naira’s value has fluctuated, more people have turned to decentralized forms of money, which are harder to regulate.
Oge Samuel Okonkwo, writing on Medium, explained that Boko Haram leverages digital currencies because of their decentralized and largely unregulated nature: “Nigeria’s robust crypto market, driven by economic necessity, facilitates this threat.” Analyst Abraham Ename Minko, from the Global Network on Extremism and Technology, added that “Boko Haram’s adaptation to digital technologies has significantly enhanced its capacity to finance terrorism in Nigeria.”
In 2021, Nigeria’s government banned banks from handling cryptocurrency transactions, hoping to control the flow of money. At the same time, officials introduced the central bank’s own digital currency, the eNaira, which failed to gain traction among citizens. As a result, many Nigerians now rely on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks and unregulated exchange bureaus, further complicating law enforcement efforts.
Authorities point out that digital currencies allow groups like Boko Haram to quickly move money across borders and to disguise the original source of funds. Investigations have found that the group uses online point-of-sale technologies and unregulated services to receive and shift money. In several cases, Boko Haram has recruited unwitting intermediaries, such as nongovernmental organizations, to exchange digital funds, obscuring the money’s origins.
In 2024, Nigerian regulators froze more than 1,100 bank accounts linked to terrorist financing. They have also warned young cryptocurrency traders that their transactions could help support terrorism. Despite these steps, investigators say that limited coordination between finance regulators and police has allowed some illegal flows to continue.
Convictions show some progress: in July 2024, Nigerian courts found 85 Boko Haram members guilty of terrorism financing. In 2020, authorities in the United Arab Emirates convicted six Nigerians for sending over $780,000 in cryptocurrency to Boko Haram.
Experts emphasize that improving banking rules and using advanced monitoring technology are essential to detect terrorism funds hidden within Nigeria’s busy crypto market. According to Okonkwo, “Disrupting cryptocurrency funding is critical to reducing Boko Haram’s capacity for violence.”
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