The U.S. treasury department has announced on October 2 that it will sanction certain persons affiliated with funding Hamas-related activities—and key figures—with cryptocurrencies and fake charities.
Sanctions on Hamas’ Funding Network: An Overview
Individuals identified include one member of Hamas’s military division, two individuals based in France, and two related organizations; with the treasury department alleging that over $2 million had been sent to Hamas. It finds that there is an elaborate channel of fund transfers, using cryptocurrency, remittance networks, and fake charities. Executive order 13902 is the basis for these sanctions on grounds of counterterrorism.
Fake Charities Found Supporting Hamas and Terrorism; Fraudulent Proceeds
Salim Abdallah Salim al-Zaq is the deputy commander of a Hamas battalion and is said to oversee a funding network that sends funds to the terrorist brigades using remittances and cryptocurrency wallets.
Two individuals based in France, Fauzi Barika and Amer Ouarido, managed the fake charity ‘Association Baraka and Ensemble Se Myu’ under the fraudulent guise of supporting civilians in Gaza. However, it was found that the proceeds were being funneled to deputy commander al-Zaq.
According to the department of treasury, “of the more than $2 million raised by al-Zaq and two others over six years from 2020 to 2026, $1.5 million was collected after Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Barika and Ouarido sent al-Zaq hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency … that these sanctions were linked to a crackdown on Hamas’s multi-jurisdictional fundraising operations led by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Sanctions on Bitbank, A Cryptocurrency Exchange
Bitbank, a cryptocurrency exchange was found to be affiliated with Iranian financier Babak Zandjani—and is sanctioned for allegedly using hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin to transfer to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps between June and July.
Association with Iranian Terrorist Activities are Sanctionable: Treasury Department
Finance secretary Bessent stated that “if you support the Iranian regime, the treasury department will impose sanctions”. The increased vigilance on cross-border transfers by individuals and entities towards Iran’s proponents of war is U.S.’s response to combatting the financing of terrorism. Although cryptocurrency transfers are, by nature, hard to trace, several bodies are on constant watch—and evolving in reach and capability. The Federal Bureau of Investigation leads the charge, and the Treasury Department orders the sanctions.
