Israel recently seized millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency in digital wallets allegedly linked to Iran’s Quds Force and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terror group based in Lebanon.
Cryptocurrencies are known for their anonymous nature and have been used by these groups to secretly move money around the globe and finance attacks, but the seizure marks a step toward adequately tracking digital assets as this is the biggest seizure of cryptocurrency from these groups to date.
Israel Seizes Millions Linked To Iran Militant Groups
Governments and terrorist groups are clearly hips to the anonymity and decentralization that crypto offers. According to Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, these groups have been using cryptocurrency to fund their daily activities since the beginning of the year.
By using crypto, these forces were able to bypass international sanctions and fund terrorist cells and weapons purchases. However, Israel’s security agencies were able to trace the accounts back to the groups through transactions.
While speaking at a conference, the defense minister noted that the Defense Ministry’s division for economic warfare against terror was able to work with other security agencies in Israel to fight against funding terror with cryptocurrencies.
While the exact amount seized wasn’t mentioned, it was to the tune of millions of dollars. These funds have since been sent to the treasury of the State of Israel
“A few days ago, an extensive and precedent-setting operation to expose a route for financing terror with digital currencies was wrapped up. This is the first incident of this magnitude, in which an infrastructure led by Hezbollah and the Iranian Quds Force that transferred millions of dollars to be used by terror elements was thwarted,” Gallant said at a conference hosted by the ministry’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF).
The Quds Force is one of five branches of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It is responsible for unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations outside of Iran’s borders. Hezbollah in Lebanon is one of its main militant group proxies and is considered a terror group by many Western nations.
Fight Against Terror
Israel is relentless in its fight against groups it deems as terrorist organizations. One of these is seizing cryptocurrencies and digital wallets linked to these organizations.
Earlier this month, Israeli security agencies seized around 190 accounts on Binance for having ties to the Hamas terror group in Palestine. Two of the accounts, according to Israel, belonged to the extremist group ISIS.
Digital currencies are decentralized, meaning there is no central authority or regulator overseeing transactions. Law enforcement has had a difficult time shutting down cryptocurrency operations linked to these types of groups, but successes like Israel’s recent seizure show that it’s still possible to follow the digital trail.