"Hamas Attacking Israel Funds Operations Through Cryptocurrency"

by Kwon Haeyoung

Published 11 Oct.2023 06:47(KST)

WSJ Report
Hamas Raises Large Sums Through Cryptocurrency Accounts Over the Past Year

There is speculation that the Palestinian armed group Hamas may have used cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin to finance its surprise attack on Israel.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 10th (local time), the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, based on Israeli government seizures and cryptocurrency analysis firm reports, that armed groups including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Hezbollah have raised large sums of money through cryptocurrency accounts over the past year.

According to a report by Elliptic, a cryptocurrency tracking company, cryptocurrency accounts identified by Israeli authorities as linked to PIJ received a total of $93 million (125 billion KRW) in cryptocurrency deposits from August 2021 to June this year. Another cryptocurrency analysis firm, BitOkey, estimated that Hamas received over $41 million (55 billion KRW) worth of cryptocurrency in accounts during a similar period to PIJ.

Since Hamas, PIJ, and Hezbollah are designated terrorist organizations by the U.S. government, they cannot transfer funds through international banking networks. In this situation, it is presumed that they used cryptocurrencies, which allow fund transfers without intermediaries, as a means of fundraising or transferring money.

Earlier, the U.S. Treasury Department also reported last year that terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) raised donations through cryptocurrencies. It pointed out that loopholes in cryptocurrency exchanges' controls allowed terrorist groups to conduct fundraising activities.

However, WSJ reported that it has not been confirmed whether the funds Hamas received via cryptocurrency were used in the recent surprise attack on Israel.