Terrorists financed the October 7 attack on Israel partly with cryptocurrency transferred through the large ruble crypto exchange Garantex.
Source. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing information from the analytical company Elliptic.
This crypto exchange was registered in Estonia in 2019, but it is actually managed from Russia, from the Federation Tower in Moscow City. The number of its users is about 100 thousand, and it remains the most popular platform for ruble trading.
The platform has been under US Treasury sanctions since April 2022. In June, the total amount of transactions on the exchange amounted to $865 million, which is three times more than before the restrictions were imposed on it.
It is noted that users buy cryptocurrency at Garantex branches for rubles, and then it is withdrawn into fiat currencies through the organization's network of local partners, making transactions very difficult to track.
Before the terrorist attack, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group received transactions totaling more than $93 million. According to analysts, Hamas used a similar financing scheme.
A representative of the US Treasury Department said that the US authorities are looking for ways to impose additional restrictions on those who use this platform for cross-border transfers.
Background. As reported, Durov said he would not delete the Hamas channel on Telegram. According to him, it is needed to receive important information.