When a group that says it provides financial assistance “relating to the jihad” sought to improve conditions for fighters in a squalid, sandbag-fortified trench in Syria late last year, it turned to a new funding conduit: bitcoin. “There is currently no shelter to protect the food and ammunition from the rain,” the group, called al Sadaqah (“charity” in Arabic), lamented in a post on the messaging app Telegram. The group’s Twitter feed contains a video showing a dirt floor strewn with blankets, bags of pita bread and hand...

Source: Wall Street Journal February 20, 2018 13:00 UTC