Crypto: Emmanuel Macron warns against de facto complicity with terrorist networks

Gathered in Paris for the fifth international conference "No Money for Terror", organized on the sidelines of the G7 Finance meeting, Emmanuel Macron He delivered a closing speech focused on the risks that the rise of cryptocurrencies poses to global security. Pointing to the inherent anonymity of these digital assets, which "foster opacity and can therefore be misused," he called on states to regulate this sector before it becomes a financial haven for criminal and jihadist groups. "Let's not allow crypto-assets to create opportunities for criminals and terrorists," he emphasized, recalling that the world had already paid a heavy price for an unregulated financial system and had to learn from its mistakes.

The tone of the speech escalated when the president adopted a deliberately blunt formulation: tolerating a financial continent entirely free from any oversight would, in his view, amount to being "complicit in terrorist activities" or "organized crime." This warning was directed as much at his G7 partners as at players in the cryptocurrency industry, in a context where several international investigations have highlighted the widespread use of digital wallets to finance attacks or launder funds from drug trafficking.

Three projects to stem illicit flows

Macron structured his speech around three priorities. The first is precisely the regulation of cryptocurrencies. The second concerns the "clearly identified interactions" between terrorism and organized crime, which, according to him, require "building new cooperation" by breaking down the "silo approaches" that still too often compartmentalize intelligence services and anti-money laundering units.

The third priority concerns the economic recovery of territories liberated from jihadist control. Citing the Sahel as an example, he argued that every military victory against a terrorist group remains fragile if it is not followed by tangible economic recovery: without the prospect of employment or administrative normalization, populations revert to the informal networks that these groups offer as the only alternative. This is the first edition of this conference since the 2018 conference, also organized in Paris at his initiative.