How To Destroy The Hamas Cryptocurrency Funding Network

The Hamas attack on Israel has prompted renewed efforts by US authorities to root out the financial networks of Iranian-backed terrorist groups, including their crypto financing, with sanctions, penalties and new investigations. In Israel, the National Terrorist Financing Office, together with Israeli police and intelligence agencies, launched an operation to locate and freeze Hamas crypto accounts. Lionsgate NetworkAn Israeli startup specialized in cryptocurrency recovery, has joined the effort and has managed to identify and intercept crypto accounts linked to Hamas.

“The world watched in horror as Hamas committed brutal acts of terrorism against the people of Israel.” saying US Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. "On this committee, we have raised the alarm about cryptocurrencies and their role in illicit finance, including the use of cryptocurrencies to fund terrorists and allow rogue nations to fund them... when law enforcement attempts to track or block funds "It becomes a game of whack-a-mole. They stop a transaction... and the criminals move on to another platform, with another alias."

The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. tax in October sanctions on ten key members of the Hamas terrorist group, agents and financial facilitators in Gaza and elsewhere. With additional rounds of sanctions in November, Treasury has targeted more than 1,000 individuals and entities connected to terrorism and terrorist financing by the Iranian regime and its proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and other Iran-aligned terrorist groups in the region. On November 21, Treasury Announced that Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, resolved its violations of multiple sanctions programs for $3.4 billion and a five-year oversight.

“The area of ​​terrorist financing is always a game of cat and mouse. Those who try to stop Hamas will have to be as agile and creative as the adversary, using the tools we already have at our disposal to identify and disrupt its financial network.” says Yaya J. Fanusie, former CIA analyst and director of anti-money laundering and cyber risk policy at the Crypto Council for Innovation. Lionsgate Network is one such tool, and recently managed to find $90 million worth of cryptocurrencies owned by Hamas and freeze around 100 accounts.

Just over a year ago, Lionsgate Network was established as a digital platform specializing in providing money recovery services for investors and consumers facing fraud and scams related to digital currencies. According Defilma$7.54 billion worth of digital assets have been stolen through hacks, most of them in the last three years, and several startups, such as Jurat and M2 recovery, are in the recovery services market.

Assisting in the national effort to combat Hamas' continued fundraising since October 7, Lionsgate Network has implemented the same methods it uses to find stolen digital currencies. “Our secret sauce is the innovative approach we bring to an evolving landscape, positioning us as an industry leader in digital transactions,” says Bezalel Raviv, CEO and founder of Lionsgate Network. "Like Israel's Iron Dome protecting its landscape, Lionsgate Network's vision is to safeguard the blockchain landscape, ensuring strong security for transactions and digital assets," adds Raviv.

Lionsgate Network's team of blockchain analysts and cyber advisors, leveraging Israel's cybersecurity knowledge and expertise, monitors cryptocurrency transactions in real time, detects suspicious financial activity, and uses a variety of methods to identify the owners of these accounts. .

"The primary challenge in blockchain analysis is to reveal the identification of the entity behind the transaction identification. This underscores the need for improved identification measures and the strategic use of power analysis to effectively monitor the blockchain landscape constantly evolving," says Raviv.

In the blockchain landscape, with its whack-a-mole and cat-and-mouse games, new, fast-growing crypto networks emerge periodically. Reuters reported Recently, Tron has surpassed Bitcoin as a platform for cryptocurrency transfers associated with groups designated as terrorist organizations by Israel, the United States, and other countries. According to the report, weeks after the Hamas attack, Israel announced its largest known seizure of crypto accounts yet, freezing around 600 accounts it connected to Gaza-based currency exchange company Dubai Co..

Lionsgate Network is prepared for the ever-changing landscape. "Remember," says Raviv, "new keys open new doors."