Russian DNC Hackers Used Bitcoin to Fund Operation

Although the Russian operatives' mission was information-based, the indictment claims they used cryptocurrencies to fund their work.

The Russian operatives required extensive computing equipment to complete their work, and they relied on cryptocurrencies to make necessary purchases.

According to the indictment, the Russian operatives used cryptocurrency to buy the domain "Dcleaks.com" where they disseminated many of the stolen emails.

They used Bitcoin to purchase a VPN account used to access various "Dcleaks" and other relevant social media accounts.

"Although the Conspirators caused transactions to be conducted in a variety of currencies, including U.S. dollars, they principally used bitcoin when purchasing servers, registering domains, and otherwise making payments in furtherance of hacking activity."

In some cases, the Russian operatives mined Bitcoin to acquire the currency, but they also worked through a network of p2p exchanges while also exchanging Bitcoin for other digital currencies to further mask the process.

In total, the Russian conspirators laundered $95,000 through Bitcoin transactions.

To avoid detection, the report concludes that the Russian operatives implemented hundreds of email addresses backed by fake names and addresses to facilitate their Bitcoin transactions.

They used only a few email addresses to manage all of their accounts, making their activity more identifiable when those specific email accounts were housed on the same computers used to conduct hacking.

When the same computers used to mine the operatives Bitcoin were used to register domains and social media accounts linked to the operation, their anonymity began to dissolve.