Japanese Government Freezes Assets of Crypto Exchange Tied to Hamas

In a press briefing, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno reaffirmed the government’s dedication to tackling the financing of terrorism. He said, “We will continue to review sanctions targets from the perspective of countermeasures against terrorist financing.”

The US had already implemented similar sanctions. On the 18th, the U.S. penalized various individuals and organizations associated with the militant group based in Palestine.

The US sanctions targeted ten entities, including individuals and an organization, spread across several countries, including the Gaza Strip. The basis for these sanctions were allegations of ties to terrorist activities.

Debate Over Crypto Donations to Hamas

A prior report from the Wall Street Journal suggested that Hamas had acquired more than $41 million in cryptocurrency donations before their October 7 attack on Israel. This claim influenced discussions among US legislators on the potential risks of cryptocurrencies in financing terrorism.

However, Elliptic, a blockchain analytics company, later challenged these claims, stating there wasn’t sufficient evidence to prove Hamas had received such large crypto donations.

Chainalysis, another analytics company, released a report casting doubts over the recent claims about cryptocurrency’s significant role in funding terrorism.