[News] Israel shuts down more than 100 cryptocurrency accounts to block Hamas funding after it was revealed the terror group received $41million between 2021 and 2023

More than 100 cryptocurrency accounts have been frozen as part of an attempt by Israel to block funding of Hamas, a terrorist group that received more than $40million through similar sites between 2021 and 2023.

Since October 7, Israel’s law enforcement forces have ordered the freezing of accounts on Binance and ordered a closure inspection of around 200, sources cited by The Financial Times said on Tuesday, October 17.

Binance complied with the closure of some accounts and said it follows internationally recognized sanctions laws, but would not comment further.

It comes after the revelation, revealed yesterday by Israeli research firms, that Hamas received a huge amount of funding through the crypto-currency sites.

Tether, a cryptocurrency issuer, froze 32 digital wallets yesterday that contained $800,000 combined as part of the effort.

 

Since the October 7 attack on Israel, Israeli intelligence forces say links to Hamas crypto donation sites have popped up frequently.

 

Hamas and its military wing received around $41 million in digital currencies between August 2021 and June 2023, according to an analysis by BitOK, a Tel Aviv-based firm.

 

Separate research by Elliptic, another crypto research firm, found that wallets linked to Palestinian Islamic Jihad,  another designated terror group, received around $91 million in the same time frame, the Wall Street Journal reported.