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The United States and Israel are intensifying efforts to curtail cryptocurrency transfers toHamasfollowing the groups large-scale attacks on Israel earlier this month. Coins likeBitcoin,Dogecoin, andEthereumare often implicated as funding streams for Islamist organizations.

The use of digital currencies and crypto exchange platforms to finance Islamist extremism has come under increasing scrutiny after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas,France 24 reported.

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On Oct. 19, the U.S.Treasury DepartmentsFinancial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)proposed new regulations to classify Convertible Virtual Currency Mixing (CVC mixing) as a primary money laundering concernto combat its use bymalicious actors, including Hamas.

Mixers or tumblers blendcryptocurrency of illicit origin withother funds, increasing the risk of using crypto mixers for money laundering or concealing earnings, according tothe crypto industry news site Cointelegraph.

See Also:Crypto Analyst Foresees Bitcoin Breaking $70,000 Barrier Soon, But Only If This Happens

Post the Oct. 7 attack, the Israeli defense ministry claimed to haveseized virtual wallets linked toHamas that received $41 millionbetween 2019 and 2023. ThePalestinian Islamic Jihad group reportedly raised $94 million in cryptocurrency over recent years, as per British firm Elliptic.

On Oct. 18, Washington sanctionedBuy Cash, a Gaza-based company, for allegedly facilitatingcryptocurrency transfers to Hamas andthe Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

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Despite these revelations, experts likeTom Keatinge, director of theCentre for Financial Crime Researchand Security Studies at theRoyal United Service Institute, caution against overhyping cryptocurrencys role in funding extremism. Most of Hamas budget, estimated at nearly $1 billion,comes from expatriates or privatedonors in the Gulf region, as per Deutsche Welle.

In this respect, the $41 million in cryptocurrencies seized by the Israeli authorities may seem like a drop in the bucket for Hamas, as per the report.

Nevertheless, crypto has become a more prominent funding method due to its ease and speed of transactions. The rising crackdown on traditional terrorist financing channels has led these groups to explore new ways of raising money, such as cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE), and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) are increasingly accused of facilitating funding for Islamist groups. Hamas use of crypto was first revealed in January 2019. Initially, these funding 2.0 initiatives raised only a few thousand dollars. However,Hamas has increasingly used socialmedianetworks as funding channels eversince.

Read Next:Bitcoin Core Dev Warns Of All Your Mempool Are Belong To Us Attack, Steps Down From Lightning Network

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Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum Funding Hamas Terror? $41M Of Crypto Seized So Far Could Just Be Drop In Buck - Benzinga