Money that leaves no scent, but still leaves a trail. Hamas had supposedly abandoned Bitcoin as early as 2019, deeming it too traceable to fund its operations with complete discretion. On September 1st, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had dismantled a crypto fundraising network operated by the Al-Qassam Brigades, the movement's armed wing, which had been active since that same year. The operation's results: over $560,000 in cryptocurrencies seized, the group's main website neutralized, and the identities of thousands of potential donors now in the hands of the FBI.
Key takeaways from this article:
- The U.S. Department of Justice dismantled an Al-Qassam Brigades crypto fundraising network, seizing over $560,000 in cryptocurrencies.
- The FBI neutralized the group's main website, intercepting donations and identifying thousands of potential donors.
A fundraising campaign launched in 2019, spotted thanks to a human source in the U.S.
According to court documents cited by the DOJ, the Al-Qassam Brigades had begun testing cryptocurrency fundraising in early 2019, via an encrypted Telegram channel and an online donation site.
Their leaders publicly boasted about the untraceable nature of the method and even provided instructions for anonymous donations. A set of rotating donation addresses further complicated tracking.
The flaw came from elsewhere: a confidential source based in the United States alerted authorities to a Telegram message soliciting donations to an email address linked to Hamas. This allowed investigators to pull on the thread and eventually uncover the rest of the network.
Three warrants in 2025 to track down $560,000
Based on this tip-off, investigators cross-referenced several human sources to track and seize the funds. Three separate seizure warrants, executed on March 25, June 25, and October 10, 2025, recovered a total of over $560,000 in cryptocurrencies intended for the Al-Qassam Brigades.
It reflects a reality more stubborn than a simple sweep: years of patient collection, tracked transaction by transaction rather than dismantled all at once.
"Hamas relied on cryptocurrencies and online platforms to solicit funds from donors around the world and move that money outside the formal financial system. The FBI seized the online infrastructure and $560,000 in cryptocurrency, intercepting donations intended for the organization. The FBI will continue to use its authorities to intercept illicit funds and prevent terrorist organizations from exploiting digital networks to finance their operations."
Brett Leatherman, Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI’s Cyber Division – Source: DOJ
Main site neutralized, thousands of donors identified
The most recent phase of the operation targets the infrastructure itself. The FBI field office in Albuquerque seized the domains and servers behind AlQassam.ps, the group's main website, allowing it to directly intercept the cryptocurrency donations that were still flowing through it. In the process, the agency also recovered information on thousands of people who had contacted Hamas to attempt to donate, via cryptocurrency or more traditional means. Data that the FBI says it intends to use in future counter-terrorism investigations. "Your networks are not safe, your cryptos are vulnerable, and we will not stop until your ability to wage war is extinguished," warned Jeanine Pirro, Federal Prosecutor for the District of Columbia, in a video statement.
A movement that had renounced Bitcoin for fear of being tracked has nonetheless been traced, address by address, on other cryptocurrencies. The lesson applies to all groups betting on decentralized finance to escape authorities: no actor in terrorism financing has yet found a lasting solution against American blockchain investigators, whether it be Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, or Hamas.
Magali
Falling down the rabbit hole in 2017, I went from an avid reader to Editor-in-Chief of Le Journal du Coin. I love getting involved behind the scenes of projects to carry my vision of a decentralized future. A lover of fine writing, I coordinate our teams to transform technical complexity into human, precise, and jargon-free information. Between entrepreneurship and editing, my mission is clear: popularize tomorrow, but do it today.
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