The Crypto Roundup: 20 October 2023 | CryptoCompare.com

The Crypto Roundup: 20 October 2023 | CryptoCompare.com

The Crypto Roundup: 20 October 2023 | CryptoCompare.com PlatoBlockchain Data Intelligence. Vertical Search. Ai.

Claims suggesting that millions of dollars in cryptocurrency have been moved to fund Palestinian operations in Israel are likely to be “overstated,” according to forensics firm Chainalysis, which analyzed flows of crypto financing to Hamas and other groups.

Chainalysis acknowledged that it is important to stop any terror funding through crypto, but also said that it was necessary to comprehend how such funding actually works, to avoid making wrong assumptions.

Per the company, it has seen “overstated metrics and flawed analyses of these terrorist groups’ use of cryptocurrency, and feels compelled to address some misconceptions.”

The firm’s blog post comes shortly after the Wall Street Journal claimed that Palestinian Islamic Jihad got $93 million in crypto from August 2021 to June 2023 and that Hamas got about $41 million in the same period.

Critics of that report pointed out that crypto financing, while important to stop, was small compared to state-funded support (especially from Iran). Hamas said in April that it was stopping crypto fundraising because it exposed its collaborators to danger or worse.

Chainalysis says that the openness of blockchains is bad for actors trying to hide their activities as the technology’s transparency means it’s “not an effective solution to finance terrorism at scale.”

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