The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seized more than $ 200,000 in cryptocurrency from multiple wallets and exchange accounts linked to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, according to a Thursday announcement.
According to the FBI, more than 1.5 million dollars in crypto – largely in the form of donations from Hamas supporters around the world – have flowed through the seized wallets and exchange accounts since last October. The wallet addresses were allegedly promoted in a group chat that claimed to be associated with Hamas, an American and European Union-appointed terrorist organization, and donations were then laundered through a series of crypto exchanges and transactions.
“These seizures show that this office will look high and low for every cent of money that will finance Hamas, no matter where it exists and no matter what kind of currency,” said US lawyer Edward R. Martin Jr. in the District of Columbia in a statement. “Hamas is responsible for many American and Israeli nationals, and we will stop by nothing to stop their campaign for terror and murder.”
About $ 90,000 in crypto was seized from a non -revealed number of wallets, and an additional $ 112,000 was taken from three exchange accounts, according to FBI’s release, and the accounts were registered to Palestinian persons who lived in Turkey “and elsewhere.”
The US Ministry of Finance and other foreign governments have previously sanctioned Hamas-connected financial networks and facilitators of crypto transfers, seized Hamas-bound crypto accounts. In April 2023, Israeli Defense Ministry of Defense seized the National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) nearly 200 cryptocurrency accounts tied to Palestinian exchange rates. According to a report from the blockchain analytics company TRM Labs, NBCTF has seized “tens of thousands of millions” of dollars in crypto from Hamas-bound accounts in the last few years.
According to the US Treasury, Hamas has used cryptocurrency to move some of its money since at least 2020 to mitigate the risk of physical transport of cash and to avoid financial surveillance.
