U.S. Representative Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) has accused the media of inaccurately portraying Hamas's use of cryptocurrency, claiming that lawmakers are using this false information as the basis for legislation. He has urged the U.S. Treasury Department to provide accurate details about Hamas's crypto usage.
"Today, I asked Treasury's Head of FinCEN and OFAC about the WSJ's reporting on Hamas's digital asset fundraising campaign," said Emmer, U.S. Representative (MN-06), according to X. "Undersecretary Nelson CONFIRMED, on the record, that the WSJ's numbers were inaccurate and that crypto was not even a popular tool for Hamas terrorists. Senators are writing legislation based on the Wall Street Journal's inaccurate reporting. Since Treasury has accurate data, it has an obligation to correct the record on the size of Hamas's digital asset fundraising efforts."
During a Congressional hearing on February 14, Emmer referred to a report by the Wall Street Journal that alleged the terrorist organization Hamas had received $41 million in cryptocurrency and that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad had received $93 million in cryptocurrency. This information was shared by Emmer during a clip of the hearing on X. He questioned Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson regarding whether or not the Treasury Department could confirm these figures, highlighting that "the world's leading blockchain analytics firm" had indicated that these numbers were reached due to misinterpretation of data by the Wall Street Journal. Nelson confirmed that these figures were significantly overstated and stated that terrorists still prefer traditional products and services over cryptocurrency.
On October 10, the Wall Street Journal reported that Hamas had raised approximately $41 million through cryptocurrency transactions. The publication also noted that Binance, recognized as the world's largest crypto exchange, was assisting Israeli law enforcement in identifying and seizing funds linked to terror groups.
Following this report from the Wall Street Journal, Chainalysis, a leading blockchain analytics firm, conducted an analysis of transactions made through Buy Cash, a sanctioned service provider based in Gaza. The analysis revealed that while approximately $82 million in crypto transactions were processed by Buy Cash, only around $450,000 was transferred to a wallet address affiliated with terrorism. Chainalysis addressed what it termed "inaccurate methodologies" used to estimate cryptocurrency’s role in terror financing in a post on its website. While acknowledging some terrorist groups do use crypto for fund raising and transfers, it stressed most terrorist financing relies on traditional financial institutions and other fiat-based methods such as shell corporations. The company emphasized the "unique transparency" of blockchain technology makes crypto traceable and therefore less attractive for terrorist groups. This traceability, Chainalysis said, enables government agencies to collaborate with private sector firms to identify and seize terrorist funding, a task that is considerably more challenging in the traditional financial ecosystem.
Emmer, who served several terms in the Minnesota House of Representatives before being elected to Congress in 2015 according to his website, is a member of the House Financial Services Committee. He represents Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District.
