---
title: "Large bitcoin payment made to far-right individuals before US Capitol attack - report"
description: "Jan 14 (Reuters) - Payments in bitcoin worth more than $500,000 were made to 22 different virtual wallets, most of them belonging to far-right activists and internet personalities, before the storming of the U.S. Capitol, cryptocurrency compliance startup Chainalysis said on Friday."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-01-14-large-bitcoin-payment-made-to-far-right-individuals-before-us-capitol-attack-report/"
published: "2021-01-14T22:01:10"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 143
---

# Large bitcoin payment made to far-right individuals before US Capitol attack - report

> Jan 14 (Reuters) - Payments in bitcoin worth more than $500,000 were made to 22 different virtual wallets, most of them belonging to far-right activists and internet personalities, before the storming of the U.S. Capitol, cryptocurrency compliance startup Chainalysis said on Friday.

By Reuters · Published 15 January 2021, 00:01 SAST

## Content

The payments, made by a French donor, of 28.15 bitcoins were made on Dec. 8, the New York-based startup, specializing in countering money laundering and fraud in the digital currency space, said in a blog post. (https://bit.ly/3bG83yE)

Chainalysis said it now has evidence that many alt-right groups and personalities received large bitcoin donations as part of the single transaction.

"We have also gathered evidence that strongly suggests the donor was a now-deceased computer programmer based in France," Chainalysis said in the report.

Nick Fuentes, who was permanently suspended from YouTube last year for hate speech, received 13.5 bitcoins, worth about $250,000 at the time of the transfer, making him by far the biggest beneficiary of the donation, according to the blog post.

Fuentes could not be reached for a request for comment. (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)