Jihadists See a Funding Boon in Bitcoin

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...