Israel Seizes Hamas' Stash Of Cryptocurrency For Third Time In A Year

Israeli authorities have said they seized cryptocurrency allegedly used to help terrorist organization Hamas for the third time within a year.

What Happened: The country’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) said Defense Minister Beni Gantz signed a seizure order for the cryptocurrency intended to help Hamas.

The seizure amounted to cryptocurrency worth dozens of thousands of Shekels from 12 digital accounts, as per an NBCTF statement, which did not specify which coins were seized.

The accounts spanned 30 wallets belonging to businesses that assisted the Al'matchadun currency exchange company belonging to the Shamlach family, which has been declared a terror organization by the Israeli ministry. 

“The Shamlach family, through the currency exchange companies it owns, assists the Hamas terror organization, particularly its military arm, by transferring funds in scopes of dozens of million dollars annually,” the statement said.

See Also: How To Buy Bitcoin (BTC)

Why It Matters: In July last year, Israel estimated that Hamas owned $7.7 million in cryptocurrencies, including Dogecoin DOGE/USD, Bitcoin BTC/USD, and Ethereum ETH/USD, among other coins.
Israel is not the only country that has seized cryptocurrencies on terrorism-linked charges. The move comes just days after Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov called on major cryptocurrency exchanges to block addresses of Russian users, although the request has been turned down by some exchange operators.

Canada last month said it would make use of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules that can lead to the seizure of cryptocurrencies.

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