Elliptic Dissects WSJ Claims of Crypto Being Used by Hamas
- Elliptic stated that the WSJ and US lawmakers are manipulating facts to make crypto look bad.
- The firm said that there is no evidence that suggests that Hamas is extensively raising funds via crypto.
- It added that the actual amount raised via crypto “remains tiny.”
- This illustrates the weakness of crypto as a terrorism fundraising tool,” noted Elliptic.
Elliptic, a blockchain analysis provider based in London, has addressed recent claims of digital assets being utilized by terrorist organization Hamas in its conflict against Israel. Interestingly, a report from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) claimed that the Hamas group is raising funds from its supporters via cryptocurrencies to bypass international sanctions.
In a blog post titled “Setting the record straight on crypto crowdfunding by Hamas,” Elliptic said that the claims made by a WSJ report earlier this month that both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) raised $130 million via blockchain-based rails were not entirely true. The blockchain analysis firm dissected WSJ’s claims, providing crucial information.
Elliptic stated that there is “no evidence to support the assertion that Hamas has received significant volumes of crypto donations,” while adding:
“Over the past few years, Hamas has begun to experiment with cryptocurrency as a means to crowdfund from the public through social media. However, the unique traceability of these assets has meant that the amounts raised remain tiny compared to other funding sources.”
Interestingly, in April, Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades (AQB) was pushed to withdraw its efforts to raise funds via cryptocurrencies after authorities severely punished the donors. Interestingly, Israeli authorities seized a significant amount of digital assets from leading crypto exchanges earlier this month, as per a report from the Financial Times.
“This illustrates the weakness of crypto as a terrorism fundraising tool,” noted Elliptic in the blog post, while adding that the amount raised by Hamas via blockchain “remains tiny.” The blockchain analysis firm claims that the WSJ and lawmakers in the United States have manipulated data to present the fact that digital currencies play a huge role in funding Hamas’ terrorist activities.
Elliptic also provided an example of a “prominent” Hamas cryptocurrency fundraising campaign, operated by Gaza Now, stating that it had raised only $21,000 since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. Out of this money, $9,000 was frozen by stablecoin issuer Tether, while another $2,000 was frozen by a crypto exchange.
As reported earlier by BitcoinWisdom, crypto exchanges like Coinbase are expected to face resistance in their lobbying efforts in the US after the Israel conflict due to the use of digital assets by Hamas.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
