United States, United Kingdom, and Australia Sanctions Crypto Transaction Facilitators With Ties to Hamas

A press statement from the Treasury Department said that the United States has blacklisted two firms that assisted Hamas in the transfer of cryptocurrency.

On Monday, the sanctions monitor of the U.S. Treasury Department reported that many financiers linked to Hamas had been added to a worldwide financial blacklist by the United States and other states.

Countries including the United Kingdom and Australia have joined the United States’ Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) in freezing the assets of persons and organizations believed to have assisted Hamas in the facilitation of cryptocurrency and non-crypto transactions.

Brian Nelson, the U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Money Intelligence, listed cryptocurrency as one of “a variety of financial transfer mechanisms” that Hamas used to fund its operations.

“Treasury, in close collaboration with our partners and allies, will continue to leverage our power to target Hamas, its financiers, and its international financial infrastructure,” according to him.

In contrast to the usual crypto penalties, no particular cryptocurrency address was included in the list of Specially Designated Nationals. Instead, Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) has frozen 189 cryptocurrency addresses linked to three exchanges, according to a press release. One of these addresses belongs to Al-Markaziya Li-Siarafa, a company owned by Zuhair Shamlakh that operates in Gaza and Turkiye; Shamlakh’s companies provide crypto and fiat support to Hamas.

“Hamas has used a variety of means to illicitly transport funds from Gaza to the West Bank, where they are used for recruiting and weapon purchases. The terrorist organization has laundered funds via illicit money exchanges in Gaza and the West Bank, which Hamas has directly seized and used,” according to the press release.

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