FBI Disrupts Hamas Online Fundraising, Seizes Crypto

The U.S. Department of Justice announced a significant operation by the FBI to dismantle Hamas's online fundraising and propaganda network. The FBI seized over $560,000 in cryptocurrency, took control of servers and domains used by Hamas's military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and identified thousands of individuals who donated to or attempted to support the organization. This operation targeted the group's efforts to solicit and transfer funds outside traditional financial systems and recruit new supporters.

The announcement encompasses five federal court orders executed between July 2025 and October 2025. These included three cryptocurrency seizure orders and two internet infrastructure seizure orders. While an initial seizure of approximately $201,400 was revealed in March 2025, the full scope of the operation, which continued covertly even after Hamas operators realized some of their wallets were frozen, has now been disclosed.

The investigation began after FBI human sources on Telegram observed calls for donations to the al-Qassam Brigades' email address. Following these leads, the FBI identified donation instructions, including the use of USDT on the TRON network, and observed patterns where funds were funneled to a central al-Qassam Brigades wallet. According to FBI affidavits, this wallet received approximately $1.57 million in USDT between late October 2024 and March 2025, with estimates suggesting the network received over $3 million in donations by November 2025.

Hamas attempted to obscure its financial tracks by using single-use donation addresses and complex transfer routes between different blockchain networks, including TRON and Binance Smart Chain. The FBI stated these transactions lacked economic purpose beyond obfuscation. Some funds were traced to accounts opened with Lebanese passports and individuals residing in Turkey. The operation also targeted the official military wing website, AlQassam.ps, and related domains, which were initially hosted by an Iranian provider before moving to U.S.-based data centers, making them subject to U.S. seizure orders.

U.S. officials stated that the seized information will be used in future investigations into terror financing. Assistant Attorney General for National Security, John C. Demers, emphasized that these seizures deprive Hamas of resources used for recruitment, radicalization, and funding attacks like the one on October 7, 2023. The U.S. has vowed to continue disrupting Hamas's online networks and seizing its cryptocurrency. This action follows previous U.S. efforts, including a 2020 operation where authorities seized crypto accounts and secretly controlled an organization website, and a separate forfeiture action in July 2025 against $2 million in crypto linked to a Gaza-based exchange that allegedly aided Hamas.