U.S. authorities have seized more than $560,000 in cryptocurrency that investigators say was intended to support Hamas, while also taking control of internet infrastructure allegedly used by the organization to collect donations and recruit supporters online.
The Justice Department announced the operation September 1, describing it as part of an ongoing effort to disrupt financing channels connected to Hamas and its military wing, the Al Qassam Brigades.
The operation involved more than simply confiscating digital assets.
Federal investigators also seized domains and servers connected to Hamas-controlled online infrastructure, giving the FBI control over portions of a fundraising and recruitment system authorities say had been used to reach potential supporters around the world.
Among the infrastructure targeted was the main Al Qassam Brigades website, AlQassam.ps.
By taking control of domains and servers associated with that site, investigators were able to interfere directly with fundraising activity and intercept cryptocurrency that otherwise may have reached the organization.
The Justice Department said the seized cryptocurrency addresses and online infrastructure had been controlled on behalf of the Al Qassam Brigades.
More than $560,000 in cryptocurrency donations was ultimately seized.
The money was identified and confiscated through three separate court-authorized cryptocurrency seizure operations.
Those actions occurred March 25, June 25 and October 10, 2025.
According to court records described by federal authorities, investigators relied on information supplied by multiple human sources to identify cryptocurrency addresses associated with the fundraising network, trace transactions and seize the assets before they reached their intended destination.
The investigation shows how U.S. authorities are increasingly combining traditional intelligence gathering with blockchain analysis when pursuing terrorism-financing cases involving digital assets.
Cryptocurrency transactions can occur without conventional international bank transfers, but transfers made on public blockchains frequently leave permanent transaction records.
Investigators can follow those records from one wallet to another and, when wallet addresses can be connected to identifiable organizations, exchanges or individuals, potentially reconstruct large portions of a financial network.
Federal investigators say Hamas had been experimenting with cryptocurrency fundraising for years.
FBI affidavits connected with the seizures say the Al Qassam Brigades began testing virtual-currency fundraising around early 2019.
The group allegedly used Telegram and other online channels to solicit cryptocurrency from supporters.
Fundraising materials also directed people toward websites that contained instructions explaining how donations could be made.
Authorities say Hamas promoted cryptocurrency partly by portraying the transactions as anonymous and difficult for governments to trace.
Websites associated with the fundraising operation reportedly provided prospective donors with instructions intended to help them transfer digital assets anonymously.
The fundraising system evolved beyond the use of a single cryptocurrency address.
Investigators say an encrypted group chat claiming association with Hamas directed supporters toward a fundraising website where prospective donors were provided with a rotating collection of cryptocurrency wallet addresses.
Changing addresses can make financial monitoring more complicated because investigators cannot simply follow one publicly known wallet indefinitely.
However, federal investigators said information from human sources helped identify addresses as they appeared and connect them with the larger financing network.
A major investigative breakthrough came after the FBI discovered a virtual-currency fundraising network soliciting donations for the Al Qassam Brigades.
A confidential source located inside the United States separately alerted law enforcement to a Telegram message requesting contributions.
That message directed potential donors toward an email address authorities associated with Hamas.
The information helped investigators examine the organization’s fundraising infrastructure and ultimately trace cryptocurrency intended for the group.
The FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office played a central role in the operation.
Agents there worked with human sources to identify and seize domains and servers associated with the Al Qassam Brigades’ online presence.
The Albuquerque office conducted the investigation in coordination with the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, Cyber Division and New York Field Office.
The cyber component of the operation was particularly important because the government was not simply following traditional financial transfers.
Investigators were attempting to disrupt an online ecosystem combining encrypted communications, websites, cryptocurrency wallets and international donors.
Brett Leatherman, assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division, said Hamas had relied on cryptocurrency and online services to collect money from donors around the world and move funds outside conventional financial channels.
He said the FBI intends to continue intercepting illicit funds and preventing terrorist organizations from using digital networks to finance their operations.
Federal officials also emphasized that cryptocurrency is not necessarily beyond the reach of law enforcement.
Jeanine Ferris Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said the operation demonstrated that Hamas-linked online networks and cryptocurrency holdings could be identified and disrupted.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said the seizures were intended to deprive Hamas of resources used to finance operations and recruit or radicalize supporters online.
The Justice Department specifically connected the broader disruption effort with preventing future attacks and reducing the organization’s ability to finance activity similar to the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The U.S. government designates Hamas as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
That designation makes knowingly providing material support or financial resources to the organization a serious federal offense.
The operation therefore focused not only on Hamas itself but also on identifying individuals attempting to financially support the organization.
By controlling portions of the online fundraising infrastructure, investigators obtained information concerning thousands of people who contacted Hamas online.
Federal authorities say those individuals had attempted, or expressed an intention, to donate to the organization.
The attempted donations were not limited to cryptocurrency.
The FBI obtained information involving people seeking to contribute through cryptocurrency as well as more traditional payment methods.
That information could now become part of future counterterrorism investigations.
The Justice Department said the data will be used in continuing FBI counterterrorism efforts.
Authorities did not announce charges against the thousands of individuals identified through the operation, and contact with a fundraising platform does not by itself establish criminal liability.
Any future criminal cases would depend on the facts surrounding individual conduct and whether prosecutors could establish the necessary elements of an offense.
Still, obtaining information about prospective donors could significantly expand investigators’ understanding of the international financial and support networks surrounding Hamas.
The domain seizures also created another advantage for investigators.
Rather than simply shutting down a website and ending visibility into activity surrounding it, controlling online infrastructure can potentially allow law enforcement to observe attempted interactions with the seized network.
In this case, federal authorities said control of the domains and servers enabled the FBI to intercept cryptocurrency donations intended for Hamas.
That approach effectively transformed part of the fundraising infrastructure into an investigative tool.
The case highlights a broader change in how governments pursue illicit cryptocurrency transactions.
Early cryptocurrency advocates often described blockchain-based payments as anonymous and beyond the control of banks or governments.
In practice, many widely used cryptocurrencies operate on transparent public ledgers.
Wallet addresses themselves may not immediately reveal the identity of the person controlling them, but every transfer can remain publicly visible.
Investigators increasingly combine those blockchain records with information from cryptocurrency exchanges, internet service providers, human intelligence, email records and seized online infrastructure.
When the different pieces are connected, activity that initially appeared anonymous can become traceable.
That appears to have played a significant role in the Hamas investigation.
The FBI used multiple human sources alongside cryptocurrency tracing to identify funds intended for the Al Qassam Brigades.
The three seizure warrants issued during 2025 then allowed authorities to confiscate approximately $560,000.
The operation was not the first U.S. effort targeting cryptocurrency allegedly connected with Hamas.
Federal agencies have pursued cryptocurrency wallets, exchanges and financial intermediaries suspected of helping sanctioned or designated organizations obtain money.
The latest action, however, went further by pairing cryptocurrency seizures with direct control of the organization’s internet infrastructure.
Justin Garris, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office, said one of the goals was to reduce the ability of foreign terrorist organizations to receive donations while also creating distrust between those organizations and prospective financial supporters.
Disrupting that trust can be important.
If donors cannot know whether a cryptocurrency address actually remains controlled by an organization or has instead been compromised by law enforcement, the reliability of the fundraising network decreases.
The same uncertainty can affect websites, encrypted channels and other communications infrastructure.
Federal officials appear to view that disruption as valuable even beyond the amount of cryptocurrency seized.
The $560,000 represents money investigators say was prevented from reaching Hamas.
But controlling the fundraising system may also help prevent additional donations and provide investigators with intelligence about supporters attempting to use it.
The Justice Department’s National Security Division and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia are handling the legal side of the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tejpal Chawla and National Security Cyber Section Trial Attorney Jacques Singer-Emery are prosecuting the matter.
Trial Attorney Robert MacDonald of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section and the October 7th Task Force is also providing assistance.
The investigation remains coordinated across multiple FBI units.
That includes specialists focused on counterterrorism as well as investigators experienced in cybercrime and digital financial networks.
The multidivision structure reflects how cryptocurrency-based terrorism financing can cross traditional investigative boundaries.
The financial trail exists on blockchains.
The communication trail can involve encrypted messaging applications.
The websites and servers fall within cyber investigations.
And the underlying allegations involve national security and terrorism financing.
Federal authorities therefore need to connect all of those areas simultaneously.
The seizure also underscores an important reality for cryptocurrency users generally.
Blockchain technology itself is not inherently connected with illicit finance, and the vast majority of cryptocurrency activity is not necessarily related to terrorism.
But digital assets can be used in illegal fundraising just as cash, banks, money-transfer businesses and other financial systems can.
What makes blockchain transactions different is that they can move internationally very quickly while leaving a digital transaction history that investigators may later analyze.
That combination can initially make cryptocurrency attractive to illicit organizations while also creating vulnerabilities once law enforcement identifies the relevant wallets.
The FBI’s latest operation demonstrates both sides of that equation.
Hamas allegedly used rotating cryptocurrency addresses and online fundraising tools in an effort to collect donations internationally.
Investigators then used human intelligence, blockchain tracing, court-authorized seizures and control of the group’s online infrastructure to follow and intercept those funds.
The operation ultimately removed more than $560,000 from the fundraising network, disrupted websites and communications systems and produced information about thousands of prospective donors.
Hamas representatives did not immediately provide a response to requests for comment following the announcement.
The Justice Department says the investigation forms part of a continuing campaign against Hamas financing rather than a one-time enforcement action.
Federal officials have made clear that additional cryptocurrency wallets, online networks and individuals connected with terrorism financing could remain under investigation.
For law enforcement, the significance of the operation extends beyond the dollar amount seized.
The government demonstrated that a fundraising network built around encrypted communications, websites and cryptocurrency wallets could be infiltrated and disrupted.
The cryptocurrency was confiscated.
The fundraising infrastructure was taken over.
Prospective donations were intercepted.
And the FBI obtained information that could support future counterterrorism investigations.
That makes the case another example of how blockchain transparency, combined with traditional investigative techniques, is increasingly being used against groups that once viewed cryptocurrency as a way to move money beyond the reach of conventional financial enforcement.