The U.S. Treasury Sanctions On-Chain Wallets Supporting Hamas
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on on-chain wallets that support Hamas, specifically targeting “financial facilitators” and other parties involved in assisting the organization. One of the entities affected by the sanctions is “Buy Cash,” a virtual currency and money transfer business located in Gaza. The owner of Buy Cash, Ahmed M. M. Alaqad, has also been added to OFAC’s blacklist. In 2021, Israel’s National Bureau for Counter-Terrorist Financing froze one of Buy Cash’s Bitcoin wallets due to its connection to a Hamas fundraising campaign.
OFAC explained that Buy Cash has been used to transfer funds by affiliates of other terrorist groups as well. The exchange received $2,000 in BTC from an al-Qa’ida affiliate based in Türkiye in September 2019. Additionally, Buy Cash allowed a registered account to be used by individuals involved in online infrastructure payments for ISIS. The Treasury highlighted that Hamas frequently relies on small-dollar donations, including through the use of virtual currency.
In its efforts to support Israel in its conflict with Hamas following recent attacks, OFAC also targeted six individuals associated with Hamas’s investment portfolio and two senior Hamas officials with sanctions. Israeli police collaborated with Binance to freeze Hamas-related accounts on their platform after the attacks occurred. Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer globally, also announced freezes on crypto addresses linked to terrorism in Ukraine and Israel this week.
Hot Take: Efforts to Combat Crypto-Financed Terrorism Intensify
Following reports of Bitcoin fundraising by Hamas, over 100 U.S. policymakers have petitioned the Biden administration for more information on how it plans to prevent crypto-financed terrorism. These recent sanctions and collaborations between law enforcement agencies and crypto platforms highlight the increasing efforts to address this issue. It is crucial for regulators, policymakers, and the crypto community to work together to ensure the integrity of the crypto space while combating illicit activities.
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