Israeli counterterrorism authority orders seizure of 84 crypto addresses belonging to Hamas

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On July 7, Benjamin Gantz, Israel’s Defense Minister, signed an order to seize crypto wallets that the governed claim are linked to members of Hamas.

The list includes 84 addresses for Bitcoin, Tether, Ether, and Dogecoin, among others. The National Counterterrorism Financing Office assigns most of these portfolios to seven Palestinian nationals that it associates with Hamas.

However, a number of wallets remain anonymous. Several others are only identified by email addresses [email protected] and [email protected]

Blockchain analytics and forensics firm Elliptic discovered that sanctioned addresses received $ 7.7 million in cryptocurrency, mostly Tether and Bitcoin. The cabinet clarified that:

“Some addresses are part of larger services and not all of these funds may be associated with terrorism. When calculating this figure, we have excluded funds sent to addresses known to be used by services such as exchanges to receive multiple user repositories. “

Elliptic co-founder Tom Robinson told The Block that while some of the wallets are self-hosted, “some wallets are still active. A number of them are deposit addresses on exchanges. , while others are owned by brokers “. Robinson declined to name the identified exchanges or clarify whether Elliptic had worked with the Israeli government to locate the wallets involved.

Regarding exterior property, the Defense Ministry ordinance states: “Any individual who claims ownership of all or part of the property may make their claims and submit them in writing to the head of the National Anti-Terrorism Office. financing of terrorism. “

Hamas is a militant Islamist political group that controls the Gaza Strip. The European Union, the United States and Israel have all designated Hamas or its affiliates (especially its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades) as terrorist organizations.

This is not the first time that Hamas has been identified as using crypto to collect donations. An Israeli NGO sought to stop Hamas’ use of Coinbase in 2019. Last August, the US Department of Defense and the Department of Justice unveiled a massive foreclosure operation that affected cryptocurrency wallets belonging to Hamas, Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Correction: This report and its title have been corrected. The Israeli government has issued an order for the seizure of the addresses, but the funds have yet to be seized.

2021 The Block Crypto, Inc. All rights reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial or other advice.

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