US Legislator Urges Joe Biden To Take Strict Action On The Use Of Crypto By Hamas

Senator Elizabeth Warren, worried about Hamas' use of crypto. (photo: Twitter @ewarren)

JAKARTA - In a letter sent to the US Treasury and White House on Tuesday 17 October led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, Roger Marshall, and Council Member Sean Casten, 105 legislators expressed "serious concern" that Hamas and its affiliated group called Palestinian Islamic Jihad used digital assets to fund their operations and evade US sanctions.

"These Congress and government must immediately take firm action to thoroughly address crypto's illegal financial risks before they can be used to finance other tragedies," the letter reads.

The Israeli police stated in a statement on October 10 that they had frozen several crypto accounts used to raise donations to Hamas. Reuters also reported in May that Israel had seized about 190 crypto accounts on the Binance crypto exchange since 2021, including dozens claimed by Palestinian companies linked to Hamas.

Binance said the exchange had "closely cooperated with international counter-terrorism authorities" in confiscating the assets.

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Since the start, the crypto community has praised digital assets as vehicles for anonymous transactions, and a number of federal law enforcement measures related to fraud, money laundering, and unregistered coin offerings have attracted attention to the industry.

Hamas uses a global funding network to channel support from charitable institutions and friendly countries, including using crypto.

Israeli authorities have confiscated "tens of millions of dollars" in cryptocurrencies from Hamas-related addresses in recent years, according to blockchain researcher TRM Labs.

Legislators have asked the Joe Biden administration to provide estimates on the value of crypto assets remaining in wallets controlled by Hamas, how much Hamas operations are crypto-funded, and any information it has about parties facilitating crypto shipments to and from Hamas as well as other militant groups.