El Tesoro de EE.UU. sanciona a una bolsa vinculada a Hamás

• El Tesoro de Estados Unidos afirma que Hamás depende de las criptomonedas para su financiación. 
• Los datos de Chainalysis revelaron que Hamás ha recibido cientos de miles de dólares en criptodonaciones desde 2019. 
• Los legisladores estadounidenses han pedido claridad a la administración Biden sobre cómo planea abordar los fraudes criptográficos.

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La Oficina de Control de Activos Extranjeros (OFAC) del Tesoro de Estados Unidos, el miércoles 18 de octubre, Anunciado sanctions on financial service providers providing aid to Hamas amidst its ongoing crisis with Israel. OFAC said it had added a “virtual currency exchange and its operator based in Gaza” that had a Bitcoin wallet address to its list of sanctioned entities. 

The company, identified as Buy Cash Money, is a Gaza-based digital exchange that is operated by Gaza resident Khan Yunis. OFAC said Buy Cash and Yunis had ties to Hamas. Interestingly, Israel’s National Bureau for Counter-Terrorist Finance froze one of Buy Cash’s Bitcoin wallets in June 2021 for alleged ties to Hamas’s funding campaign. 

Today, Treasury imposed sanctions on ten key Hamas terrorist group members, operatives, and financial facilitators in Gaza and elsewhere as part of a continuous effort by the U.S. to root out Hamas’s sources of revenue. https://t.co/KZtF6K60id

— Departamento del Tesoro (@USTreasury) 18 de octubre de 2023

Sanctions have been a common tactic employed by the US Treasury to reduce financial support for organizations suspected of being involved in terrorism or other illegal activity. The Treasury explained in its announcement that “Buy Cash has also been used to transfer funds by affiliates in other terrorist groups.” The department noted that Buy Cash received $2,000 in BTC to its wallet from a Türkiye-based money operator and an al-Qa’ida affiliate in September 2019. 

En reacción a la noticia, la secretaria del Tesoro, Janet Yellen, dijo en un comunicado:

Continuaremos tomando todas las medidas necesarias para negar a los terroristas de Hamás la capacidad de recaudar y utilizar fondos para llevar a cabo atrocidades y aterrorizar al pueblo de Israel. Eso incluye imponer sanciones y coordinar con aliados y socios para rastrear, congelar y confiscar cualquier activo relacionado con Hamás en sus jurisdicciones.

In addition to Buy Cash and its founder, OFAC named two top Hamas officials and six others connected to Hamas’s investment portfolio in its sanctions list. Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel earlier this month and Western authorities have worked to limit their access to resources.  

Las autoridades israelíes recientemente colaboró con el intercambio de criptomonedas Binance unos días después de los ataques para bloquear cuentas conectadas a Hamás en el intercambio. A principios de esta semana, el emisor de monedas estables, Tether, anunció que había congelado direcciones criptográficas vinculadas al terrorismo en Israel y Ucrania. 

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