Israel has uncovered and confiscated cryptocurrency accounts used by Iran to fund terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Iranian Quds force. Israel’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant made the revelation while speaking at the third annual crypto conference hosted by the National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) in Israel’s Ministry of Defense.
Gallant described the operation in question, which he approved and launched several weeks ago, as unprecedented. The operation was carried out with the aim of identifying and confiscating terror funds laundered by terrorist organizations supported by Iran.
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“Over the past few months, the NBCTF in the Ministry of Defense, in cooperation with the Mossad, Intelligence Directorate of the IDF, the police, and additional institutions, have developed new capabilities, which have enabled significant achievements in this domain,” said Gallant.
Gallant also explained that since the beginning of this year, Hezbollah, Quds Force and Syrian operatives have used digital currencies to receive funds from third parties, via illegal transactions.
Adding that this was a first of its kind operation, Gallant said that Israel has now set a precedent in exposing the source of terror-funding via digital currencies and has thwarted the transfer of millions of dollars to terrorists.
“By virtue of my authority as Minister of Defense, I issued an order that enabled the confiscation of said funds, as well as their transfer to the State of Israel,” said Gallant. “In doing so, we have effectively cut off the flow of terror funds via this channel.”
“We are shown once again, Iranian efforts to sponsor and disseminate terrorism against Israel and against the international community – both directly and indirectly via its proxies,” he added
Since cryptos are used by many illicit organizations around the world and often for illegal activities, this news should send shockwaves throughout the entire crypto world. The main attraction of cryptos like Bit Coin is their anonymity. Once governments are able to not only track down the accounts used by terrorists and criminal alike, but are also able to confiscate the funds – as evidenced by Israel’s actions – cryptos will no longer be used by them.
And if a government can figure out how to do this, so too can criminals. So, this will be a disaster for the crypto market since people will now be afraid to invest in them.
Yoav Gallant also made a statement about Israel’s security in general saying, “Since its establishment, Israel has faced complex security threats. Over the years, as technology advanced and developed, so did the threats – changed and evolved. In addition to our fight against terror organizations and their proxies, we are now also tasked with identifying and cutting off the resources intended for terrorism.”
“This is not a simple mission,” he added, “and it only becomes more complex once we deal with digital currencies. Anyone who finances terrorism and/or maintains financial ties with the perpetrators of terror – must know that they too, will become targets.”
