The US authorities have denied the version about the active use of crypto assets by Hamas
The US Treasury Department said that the version with Hamas' cash flows using crypto assets is untenable. The group still prefers to use traditional financing methods.
In October 2023, the WSJ published an article that talked about multimillion-dollar crypto donations for terrorists. It was claimed that Hamas militants received over $41 million in digital assets.
This material was criticized by cryptocurrency experts and analysts. In particular, Chainalysis stated that the financing of terrorism accounts for a relatively small part of the volume of cryptocurrency transactions. In their opinion, such organizations prefer traditional methods of financing.
Elliptic, an analytical firm that took part in collecting data for the WSJ article, also denied the journalists' statements.
"Not a single public campaign to raise funds in cryptocurrency conducted by a terrorist group has received a significant level of donations compared to other sources of funding," the experts stressed.
In the same month, representatives of the US Congress sent an open letter to the Ministry of Finance. They called on the agency to investigate possible assistance to the Hamas group from the Binance exchange and Tether company.
Speaking before the House Financial Services Committee, Brian Nelson said that the ministry had not found evidence of increased funding for militants through digital assets.
In his opinion, the situation around cryptocurrency donations was "overblown", and the amounts appearing in media statements were overstated. A representative of the Ministry of Finance said that in fact we are talking about a small amount of funds received at addresses associated with the grouping.
Despite the denial of allegations of terrorist financing through cryptocurrencies, the US Treasury Department insists on expanding its authority over digital assets.
Nelson notes that the agency intends to stop the possible use of these sources of income by terrorist groups. The Ministry of Finance monitors the cryptocurrency industry and asks for additional tools to control it, the representative of the department notes.
Source: https://incrypted.com/vlasty-ssha-oprovergly-versyju-ob-aktyvnom-yspolzovanyy-kryptoaktyvov-hamasom/
