The Israel-Hamas conflict has once again flared up since last week. On October 7, 2023, Hamas militants broke through the Gaza-Israel border. They then attacked Israeli civilians and kidnapped them. This prompted Israel to declare war against Hamas. Subsequently, the Israeli Police freezes crypto accounts belonging to Hamas.
Israeli Police Freezes Hamas-Linked Crypto Accounts
Once the war began, Israel decided to clamp down on Hamas terrorists. As a result, Israel Police worked with a cryptocurrency company to track down and freeze cryptocurrency accounts. Israel Police wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that it collaborated with the Ministry of Defence and the Israel Security Agency. The intelligence agencies pinpointed the use of cryptocurrencies in the conflict and froze the funds.
The Israeli government claims that apart from Hamas, Lebanese ally Hezbollah received large amounts of funds through cryptocurrency. It also claims that Hamas received over $41 million in crypto in the summer of 2021.
Collaboration with Cryptocurrency Companies
The Israeli police have admitted that they received a considerable amount of cooperation from cryptocurrency companies. A member of a cryptocurrency company cooperated with the police to combat terror financing. Intelligence agencies have pinpointed addresses, individuals, and addresses linked with specific terrorist organizations. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Hamas militants may have funded surprise attacks on Israeli civilians through cryptocurrency.
Blockchain’s Traceability Feature
Israeli police succeeded in freezing cryptocurrency accounts belonging to Hamas. This act can play a decisive role in the Israel-Hamas conflict. The Israeli police could accurately pinpoint the account holders because of the traceability feature. It is a distributed ledger and is available to the blockchain network participants. It offers a real-time view of all transactions between the involved parties. Intelligence and security agencies can legitimately track the use of cryptocurrencies by multiple parties.
Also Read– HashCash CEO Raj Chowdhury: Crypto Creates a Borderless World
To Sum Up
Terrorists and criminals can use cryptocurrency exchanges and currencies. However, they cannot use it for long because of Blockchain’s traceability feature. Like the Israeli police, every law enforcement agency can track down the illegal and unjust use of cryptocurrencies. Many cryptocurrency companies are bound to cooperate with the agencies to track and pinpoint cryptocurrency accounts belonging to criminals and terrorists.
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