HAMAS Receives Bitcoin Donation After Having A Conflict With Israel

Illustration of Palestinian children with Israeli soldiers at the border. (Wikimedia Commons/Harry Pockets)

JAKARTA - The long conflict between the militant group Hamas and Israel has been going on for quite a long time. Rumor has it that certain parties are financing the conflict between Hamas and Israel, regardless of the struggle for territory in Palestine.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Hamas has been receiving donations in the form of Bitcoin (BTC) since early May 2021. Cited from CoinDesk, an unnamed Hamas official acknowledged that Bitcoin donations to Hamas had skyrocketed.

The Palestinian militant group that controls the Gaza Strip is designated as a terrorist organization by Western countries. For funding its organization, Hamas was forced to switch to a financial system other than banking.

Therefore, Bitcoin donations to Hamas some time ago have contributed to their cause. However, Hamas officials did not disclose how much Bitcoin donations they received.

Donation in the form of Bitcoin to the Palestinian militant group is not the first time. Whitestream, an Israeli blockchain analytics company, has identified the BTC donation since February 2019.

Palestinian civilian businesses in Gaza have been helped by cryptocurrency donation. A cryptocurrency developer revealed to CoinDesk that a number of Palestinian businessmen have made transactions of between USD 5 million and USD 6 million in one month.

Not only that, based on a CoinDesk report in August 2019, revealed that Palestinian civilians use Bitcoin as a transaction tool more than the militant group Hamas. The use of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange in Palestine has been going on since 2019.

Nevertheless, the war between the Hamas group and Israel has been suspected and mediated by Egypt to carry out a ceasefire on May 21, 2021. Until now, both sides have stopped the war which has drawn sympathy from various parts of the world for the victims of Palestine.