Hamas Attacks: Elliptic Refutes Claims of Cryptocurrency Funding

Elliptic, according to Blockworks, has responded to a Wall Street Journal article from earlier this month that claimed Hamas funded its attacks on Israel with cryptocurrencies. When Democratic legislators inquired about the use of cryptocurrencies by terrorist organisations, they cited the report. According to prior reports by Blockworks, expert interviews suggested that the utilisation of cryptocurrencies as funding instruments was improbable owing to the characteristics of public blockchains. In a prior report, Elliptic asserted that law enforcement has the capability to "effectively halt the usage of cryptocurrencies by terrorist organisations." Elliptic stated that there is no evidence to support the Journal's claim that Hamas raised "millions" in cryptocurrency and that data provided by Elliptic and others has been misconstrued.

Elliptic traced down a portion of the funds, noting that "since October 7, only $21,000 in cryptocurrency has been donated, and the majority of this has been frozen due to the efforts of crypto businesses and researchers, preventing Gaza Now from using these funds." Chainalysis advocated for a more nuanced investigation into the potential use of cryptocurrency by terrorist organisations subsequent to the letter authored by Senator Warren and one hundred other Democrats. It is considerably more probable, according to Chainalysis, that a minor fraction of the $82 million in cryptocurrency was allocated for terrorist purposes, while the vast majority of the funds processed by the alleged service provider were extraneous. Humanitarian causes have utilised cryptocurrencies to raise funds, as evidenced by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) enabling crypto donations a few years ago and Crypto Aid Israel garnering over $185,000 in cryptocurrencies.