Borsa collegata ad Hamas con sanzioni del Tesoro americano

• Il Tesoro degli Stati Uniti afferma che Hamas fa affidamento sulle criptovalute per i finanziamenti. 
• I dati di Chainalysis hanno rivelato che Hamas ha ricevuto centinaia di migliaia di dollari in donazioni in criptovalute dal 2019. 
• I legislatori statunitensi hanno chiesto chiarezza all’amministrazione Biden su come intende affrontare le frodi legate alle criptovalute.

---

L'Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) del Tesoro degli Stati Uniti, mercoledì 18 ottobre, annunciato 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

— Dipartimento del Tesoro (@USTreasury) 18 ottobre 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. 

Reagendo alla notizia, il segretario al Tesoro Janet Yellen ha dichiarato in una nota:

Continueremo a prendere tutte le misure necessarie per negare ai terroristi di Hamas la possibilità di raccogliere e utilizzare fondi per compiere atrocità e terrorizzare il popolo di Israele. Ciò include l’imposizione di sanzioni e il coordinamento con alleati e partner per rintracciare, congelare e sequestrare qualsiasi bene legato ad Hamas nelle loro giurisdizioni.

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.  

autorità israeliane di recente collaborato con l'exchange di criptovalute Binance pochi giorni dopo gli attacchi per bloccare gli account collegati ad Hamas sull'exchange. All'inizio di questa settimana, l'emittente di stablecoin, Tether, ha annunciato di aver congelato indirizzi crittografici collegati al terrorismo in Israele e Ucraina. 

Ultime notizie