"Hmm, I know that US behavior will be like this, pouring more fuel into the raging fire."
The United States (US) Treasury Department on Wednesday yesterday reportedly blocked several individuals, entities including a Gaza-based stock exchange said to be supporting Hamas operations.
Not only that, the sanctions also target the Buy Cash Money and Money Transfer Company, a company which according to the Treasury has a long history of funding the Hamas group.
Buy Cash, which was previously tied to a wallet seized by Israel's National Bureau for Anti-Terrorist Financing in 2021, has been accused of helping, sponsoring and providing financial support, technology, goods and services to Hamas supporters.
Later, the owner of the financial exchange Ahmed M. M. Alaqad was also sanctioned on 18 October 2023.
The series, the US is taking relatively fast and decisive action to target the financiers and facilitators of Hamas following the massacre, Treasury Secretary Janet Yallen commented in a statement.
According to Yaya Fanusie, a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst who is the head of anti-money laundering and cyber risk policy at the Crypto Council for Innovation, the US has shown how it should pursue any use of crypto by Hamas.
It is true that the US only blocked one address associated with Buy Cash, but it has also been used by brokers on multiple blockchains including Bitcoin (BTC), reports a blockchain analysis firm called Elliptic.
The firm also found that the address had received more than $25 million worth of cryptocurrencies such as BTC and Tether (USDT) since 2015.
