Digital currencies being used to fund terror: Modi

Digital currencies need more regulation to stamp out funding for terror operations, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said yesterday at a major international forum to combat financing of extremist groups. India has laboured to rein in cryptocurrency transactions after years of phenomenal growth, backed by burgeoning local trading platforms and glitzy celebrity endorsements. Modi last year said that bitcoin presented a risk to younger generations and could "spoil our youth" if it ended up "in the wrong hands". Yesterday, he went further and told delegates at the Conference on Countering Financing of Terrorism that "private currencies" posed a grave security risk. "New kinds of technology are being used for terror funding and recruitment. Challenges from the dark net, private currencies and more are emerging," Modi said. "There is a need for a uniform understanding for new finance technologies," he added. "From a uniform understanding, a unified system of checks and balances and regulation can emerge," Modi said.