Perhaps coincidental, but interesting timing given the role crypto plays in getting money into Gaza. It's purportedly a small part of funding that goes in, but maybe one of few left in the current situation.
Here is the summary: https://twitter.com/nic__carter/status/1717210060777009636
- WSJ journalists (Angus Berwick & Ian Talley) write a flurry of articles citing Elliptic data claiming that PIJ (Hamas affiliate) raised $93m in crypto (and cites BitOK claiming Hamas raised $41m) [1]
- Sen Warren uses this article to claim that Hamas raised "over $130m" in crypto. This article is her SOLE citation in her letter. The entire letter depends on the WSJ article [2]
- Over 100 member of Congress sign the letter, which asks for the Biden admin to further crack down on crypto
- Chainalysis comes out with an article disputing the WSJ claims, saying that instead of $82m of terror financing, the real figure is around $450k. It's unclear which wallets they are referring to. Either way, it looks like the WSJ analysis is vastly overstated [3]
- WSJ refuses to follow up or retract, instead writing more articles relying on their claims
[2] https://warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2023.10.17%20Letter%...
[3] https://chainalysis.com/blog/cryptocurrency-terrorism-financ...
Yes, though I said the same thing. Though I also imagine there's a lot of smuggling that has nothing to do with an insurrection.
I don’t know enough about the Gaza crypto market to know which state it’s in. But generally, if people are desperate they will try to earn crypto online, and if smugglers can’t get cash out they’ll prefer crypto.
Crypto nerds are completely detached from reality.
Anyway, far more money is sent to Gaza, and Hamas, in the form of Western aid from governments. Stopping the flow and misuse of that money is far more important than crypto.