The Tel Aviv Court of First Instance has issued a ruling allowing the Israeli government to seize all cryptocurrency from more than 150 digital wallets blacklisted for their alleged funding of terrorist groups.
According to a December 18 local Israeli media report, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz says the court’s December 15 ruling has already allowed authorities to seize another $33,500 from digital wallets linked to the Islamist militant group Hamas.
Before the court ruling, the Israeli authorities were only legally allowed to seize digital assets with direct links to terrorist activities, but not additional funds in the same wallets.. In December 2021, authorities seized $750,000 from the wallets.
Hamas, the de facto ruling authority of the Palestinian Gaza Strip since 2007, is classified as a terrorist organization in whole or in part by several countries and international blocs, including the United States, the European Union, Israel and the United Kingdom.
Starting in January 2019, Hamas began asking its supporters to send funds using Bitcoin (BTC). as a means to combat sanctions and financial isolation.
Gantz signed an order on July 9, 2021, authorizing security forces to seize cryptocurrency accounts with suspected ties to the militant wing of Hamas.
Authorities revealed at the time that the accounts contained Tether (USDT), Ether (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE), XRP (XRP), Binance Coin (BNB), Zcash (ZEC), Litecoin (LTC), and other altcoins.
In February, Israeli authorities also seized 30 crypto wallets from 12 Hamas-linked exchange accounts.
The exact value of the seized crypto assets has not been publicly disclosed.
Cryptocurrencies have been shown to play a relatively minor role in raising funds for terrorist groups. In early 2022, blockchain analytics company Chainalysis determined that only a small portion of cryptocurrency funds are used in criminal activity.
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