QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The Islamic State (ISIS) is increasingly relying on cryptocurrency, online fundraising and cross-border financial networks to preserve its operational capabilities in Syria and Iraq, according to a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) published on Friday, which says the group has adapted its financing model to survive the loss of territory and continued military pressure.
The report, titled “How ISIS Uses Cryptocurrency: The Case of Al-Hol Camp and a Model for the Future”, examines how ISIS supporters and facilitators use digital currencies alongside more traditional channels, such as cash transfers, to move money into and out of detention camps in northeast Syria, particularly Hawl Camp in Hasakah Governorate.
According to MEMRI, cryptocurrency is not replacing ISIS’s traditional financing methods, but rather becoming an additional tool within a broader, increasingly decentralized system designed to evade surveillance, obscure donor identities and move funds across borders with less risk of detection. The report argues that this model allows ISIS-linked networks to support detainees, women and children affiliated with the group, finance escape attempts, and maintain links between camp residents and operatives outside.
MEMRI said pro-ISIS fundraising campaigns have increasingly appeared on encrypted messaging platforms and social media channels, where facilitators solicit donations under humanitarian pretexts, including support for widows, children or detainees. Once collected, the funds are moved through a combination of cryptocurrency wallets, hawala brokers, cash-transfer applications and intermediaries operating in Syria, Iraq and neighboring countries, according to the report.
The think tank focused in particular on Hawl Camp, which for years has been described by local authorities and international officials as one of the most fragile security files in northeast Syria. The camp has housed tens of thousands of Syrians, Iraqis and foreign nationals linked to ISIS since the group’s territorial defeat in Baghouz in 2019. The Kurdish Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and rights monitors have repeatedly warned that ISIS cells and sympathizers inside the camp continue to enforce ideological control, intimidate residents and exploit informal financial networks.
The report’s findings echo earlier warnings by U.S.-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and UN bodies about ISIS financing trends in Syria. In a quarterly report by Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) published in 2024 and previously reported by North Press, the anti-ISIS mission said the group had transferred up to $20,000 per month to individuals inside Hawl Camp through intermediaries in Turkey, using hawala networks, cash transfer applications and cryptocurrency. The report also said ISIS continued to rely on buried cash reserves, extortion, kidnapping and online fundraising to sustain its activities .
North Press has previously reported on repeated security operations in and around Hawl targeting ISIS sleeper cells and financial facilitators. In April 2025, the Internal Security Forces (Asayish) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the U.S.-led Coalition, launched a new sweep inside the camp, saying the operation aimed to dismantle active ISIS cells, seize weapons and communications equipment, and disrupt financing networks operating both inside and outside the facility.
Local authorities have long argued that the security challenge in Hawl extends beyond armed cells to include a parallel economy that allows ISIS-linked detainees and supporters to raise, store and move money. Analysts say these funds are used not only for daily survival inside the camp, but also to pay smugglers, bribe intermediaries, coordinate escape attempts and support militant activity elsewhere in Syria and Iraq.
MEMRI said the Hawl case illustrates how detention camps can serve as logistical and financial hubs for extremist networks if left without a durable political and security solution. It warned that the combination of radicalization, illicit finance and weak international follow-up could allow ISIS to preserve support structures capable of outlasting battlefield defeats.
The report comes as regional and international officials continue to warn that ISIS remains a persistent threat despite the collapse of its self-declared “caliphate.” While the group no longer controls territory as it once did, counterterrorism officials say its ability to regenerate increasingly depends on dispersed cells, prison and camp networks, smuggling routes and covert financing systems that link Syria’s detention facilities to supporters abroad.
For years, the AANES has called on foreign governments to repatriate their nationals from Hawl and other detention facilities, warning that leaving thousands of women and children in legal limbo risks deepening both the humanitarian crisis and the long-term security threat posed by ISIS.