Treasury Action Reveals $2M Crypto Trail in Hamas Fundraising Network

The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned several individuals and organizations it says were involved in raising more than $2 million for Hamas, including hundreds of thousands of dollars transferred through cryptocurrency.

Treasury said the network operated for six years and combined cryptocurrency transfers with purported humanitarian donations to channel funds to Hamas. The department designated a member of Hamas’s military wing, two France-based individuals and two charities allegedly involved in the operation.

According to Treasury, Faouzi Barika and Amel Oualid collected donations in France under the guise of humanitarian causes before transferring funds to Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by numerous jurisdictions and has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007.

The fundraising network generated more than $2 million between 2020 and 2026, including $1.5 million collected after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Treasury said. The department alleged that Barika and Oualid transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency to Saleem Abdallah Saleem al-Zaq, a Gaza-based deputy battalion commander with Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades. Treasury did not claim that the entire $2 million was moved through crypto.

The sanctions add to evidence that U.S. authorities are examining cryptocurrency as one component of broader fundraising and payment networks rather than treating it as Hamas’s main source of financing. Treasury officials have previously said Hamas and other groups continue to depend primarily on traditional financial channels, even as authorities have imposed crypto-related sanctions and carried out seizures.

The action also comes after reports last month that the Al-Qassam Brigades told donors not to send funds directly from Binance, instead recommending other crypto services before transferring funds to a TRON wallet.

Under the new sanctions, any property or interests in property belonging to the designated individuals or organizations that fall under U.S. jurisdiction are blocked. U.S. persons are generally prohibited from conducting transactions with the designated parties. Foreign financial institutions that knowingly facilitate significant transactions involving them could also face secondary sanctions. The restrictions cover entities that are at least 50% owned, directly or indirectly, by one or more designated parties.

“Terrorist organizations like Hamas rely on sophisticated financial facilitators and fraudulent schemes designed to exploit the public,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.