Georgia Protests ‘Are Funded by Overseas Crypto,’ Claims Security Service
Georgia’s security service has claimed overseas actors are using crypto to fund a spate of protests that have divided the country.
Thousands have taken to the streets in the capital Tbilisi in recent days, with smaller protests also taking place in the cities of Zugdidi, Kutaisi, and Gori.
But the State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) says the masterminds behind the protests are using “funds from abroad.”
And, the SSSG claimed, protest organizers are making use of crypto in a bid to “cover their tracks.”
The SSSG is Georgia’s state intelligence agency. Per the Georgian media outlet Ambebi, the SSSG said that “a group of people” based overseas is “planning and organizing rallies in the Georgian capital.”
The agency claimed that these individuals want to engineer “destructive and violent incidents.” And the SSSG said:
“Citizens of Georgia who are based abroad – in particular a certain group of Georgians participating in the hostilities in Ukraine – in taking part in criminal plans.”
The agency accused these overseas “agents” of plotting to sabotage Tbilisi’s traffic networks.
The agency said agents also plan to barricade access to the roads around government institutions and strategic facilities.
It claimed these same individuals plan to block railway networks and “set up encampments” outside law enforcement agencies. The SSSG explained:
“[The masterminds] funds are receiving funds from abroad. And they are using cryptocurrency, in many cases, to cover their tracks.”
The SSSG thinks that “foreign instructors” visited Georgia “at the end of April of this year” to conduct “cryptocurrency transaction-related training sessions.”
It said that “the organizers” of the protests “received instructions on how to secretly receive
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