Russia may have been using cryptocurrencies to finance spy operations in EU countries, according to a Polish security official, Sławomir Cenckiewicz.
Summary
- Poland’s national security chief Sławomir Cenckiewicz believes Russia was likely using cryptocurrencies to finance espionage.
- Polish regulators are reviewing a bill to curb the use of cryptocurrencies in Russia.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Cenckiewicz, who serves as Poland’s national security chief, saying Moscow was likely using this payment method to finance its shadow fleet to launch drone raids and carry out acts of sabotage in European airspace, along with other covert operations aimed at destabilizing the region.
The report comes just days after the Bank of Russia permitted select commercial banks to interact with the cryptocurrency market.
Cenckiewicz recalled that back in 2023, Polish authorities had discovered a network of agents linked to the Russian military intelligence agency GRU that had “been largely funded with cryptocurrencies,” and are believed to be using a similar tactic.
Russian intelligence agents and locally recruited agents have also infiltrated Poland, according to the Financial Times, and in recent years, several individuals have already been accused of spying or carrying out acts of sabotage on behalf of Moscow.
To counter Russia’s cryptocurrency financing efforts, Polish regulators are pushing a bill to strengthen regulation and supervision of digital assets, which Cenckiewicz said was an important tool to close loopholes that could allow foreign powers to finance espionage or influence operations through cryptocurrencies.
“Polish intelligence services are very interested in this entire legislative process, to ensure that there are no loopholes that allow foreign powers to use [crypto] to fund their agents,” Cenckiewicz said.
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are pseudonymous in nature and have the ability to move value across borders without traditional banking intermediaries. As such, they have long been used to hide financial trails that are often difficult to trace.
Russia has a history of using cryptocurrencies to evade sanctionsand some previous reports suggest that the Kremlin may also have used them to finance acts of espionage.
According to TRM Labs researchers, the GRU was allegedly involved in disinformation campaigns and phishing attacks during the 2016 US elections, which were funded with Bitcoin. Bitcoin was allegedly used to purchase servers, domains, and other tools to run the operation.
A more recent discovery came from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, which marked a vast operation linked to Russian oligarch Ilan Shor’s A7 group. The group allegedly processed billions of dollars in stablecoin transactions to evade sanctions and finance political interference in Moldova.
Data uncovered in the leaks revealed how Shor’s network used Tether (USDT) and the ruble-backed A7A5 stablecoin to move funds through intermediaries in Central Asia.
