- WSJ’s preliminary report was primarily based on information from Elliptic and BitOK, a Tel Aviv-based software program firm.
- Elliptic stated WSJ had misinterpreted its information to make the declare.
London-based blockchain analytics agency Elliptic has questioned the declare that Gaza-based militant group Hamas had raised vital volumes of crypto donations.
Elliptic posted a weblog on 25 October, saying it contacted the Wall Avenue Journal (WSJ) after it alleged that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) had obtained as much as $134 million in cryptocurrency since 2021.
The report itself was primarily based on information from Elliptic and BitOK, a Tel Aviv-based software program firm. Nonetheless, Elliptic stated WSJ had misinterpreted the info.
Although politicians and journalists have portrayed crypto fundraising as a major supply of funds for Hamas and different such teams, the info stated in any other case, stated Elliptic.
The blockchain analytics agency stated Hamas first solicited Bitcoin [BTC] donations in 2019. However it stopped all public-facing crypto fundraising in April 2023, citing “concern in regards to the security of donors.”
The agency additionally claimed that its evaluation of the PIJ-linked wallets seized by Israel’s Nationwide Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) confirmed that these wallets obtained crypto funds totaling solely $93 million between 2020 and 2023.
Crypto’s traceability makes it a lower than supreme alternative for terror financing
As a result of traceability of blockchain-based property, terrorist teams haven’t been capable of elevate giant volumes of funds by way of crypto.
The efforts of legislation enforcement companies within the US and Israel to weed out any such sources, determine donors, and shut down these platforms led to additional decline in crypto fundraising.
Elliptic stated,
“No public crypto fundraising marketing campaign by a terrorist group has obtained vital ranges of donations, relative to different funding sources.”
Nonetheless, US lawmakers had been fast to take their cue from the WSJ report, main the cost towards “crypto-financed terrorism.”
Final week, over 100 lawmakers, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, wrote to 2 senior Biden administration officers to clarify their technique to curb the usage of crypto in terrorism.
Elliptic isn’t the primary crypto analytics agency to query the WSJ report. Chainalysis additionally claimed in a report final week that it had seen “overstated metrics and flawed analyses” round the usage of crypto by Hamas and PIJ.
As an alternative, these teams historically relied on conventional, fiat-based strategies similar to monetary establishments, hawala, and shell firms for fundraising.