The government of Israel has picked up a couple of dozen digital wallets that had ties to a local militant group Hamas.
Even though cryptocurrencies are sometimes regarded as "money for criminals" due to being "untraceable", virtual assets always leave digital footprints on the blockchain that are far easier to track than fiat currency.
Based on the report by the Times of Israel, the Defence Ministry obtained about 30 crypto wallets, which belonged to 12 separate accounts. The accounts were filled with "tens of thousands of shekels", but the Defence Ministry did not disclose how much and what type of crypto was held in the accounts.
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According to the post, the accounts were most likely linked to Hamas, a militant group, and the user accounts were created on a crypto exchange that was deemed as a "terrorist organization." The crypto exchange in question was the Al Mutahadun, flagged by the Minister of Defence Benny Gantz, through which Hamas supporters were financing the terrorist organization.
While this might be one of the few instances where the funds are directly related to a terrorist organization, other countries have also had their fair share of criminals using the blockchain to finance their operations.
In mid-January of 2022, the antivirus software provider Kaspersky warned users that crypto startups are potentially being targeted by a state-sponsored cybercrime organization from North Korea.
Based on the report by Chainalysis, cybercriminal groups in Russia were responsible for stealing $400 million worth of cryptocurrencies in 2021.
