TL;DR Breakdown
- Israel government seize terrorism-related Bitcoin worth $7.7m
- Hammas terrorist group used crypto for their operation
- Over time multiple cryptocurrencies have come under scanner for illicit operations
Israel government recently confiscated a terrorist Bitcoin and Dogecoin to the tune of $7.7 million. Analytics from a London-based firm revealed that terrorist group Hamas used numerous cryptocurrencies including Tether, Bitcoin, Ether, Dogecoin, and others to aid their operation.
The country’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing ordered that the terrorist-related Bitcoin e seized alongside confiscation of 84 crypto addresses considered to be linked with the terrorist organization Hamas.
The total amount contained in all the wallet addresses was over $7.7 million.
Elliptic Ltd, a London-based blockchain analytical firm revealed that all the confiscated coins was more than $7.7 seized from the terrorist. They also pointed that all addresses seized from the terrorist were theirs as they belonged to a larger network.
“Some of the addresses are part of larger services and not all of these funds may be associated with terrorism. When calculating this figure we excluded funds sent to addresses known to be used by services such as exchanges to receive deposits from multiple users, Elliptic noted.
Most of the wallets seized were said to belong to Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas. The addresses were used to receive funds from a campaign between January 2019 and May 2021. Over $100,000 in BTC was raised.
After the seizure, it became clear that Hamas used multiple cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Tron (TRX), Ether (ETH), and even the “meme coin” Dogecoin (DOGE). Interestingly, the stablecoin Tether (USDT) ranked first as the most issued digital asset by the terrorist organization.
Israel minister of defense, Benjamin Gantz signed a seizure order of 84 cryptocurrency wallets that the officials linked to the Palestinian militant group. According to the Israeli government, the addresses were used in terror-related activities.
About Hammas terrorist group
Hamas is the largest of several Palestinian militant Islamist groups.
It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. It won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election and became the de facto governing authority of the Gaza Strip following the 2007 Battle of Gaza. It also holds a majority in the parliament of the Palestinian National Authority.
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