> Initially, Hamas used crypto only to receive small-scale donations from supporters as part of a broader crowdfunding effort, which Israeli officials said has likely raised several million dollars.
Around 2020, crypto became a method of large-scale transfers between Iran and the group within the hawala networks, according to the current and former Israeli officials and ex-U.S. officials.
Since then, crypto has been “an essential part for their operational activity,” one senior NBCTF official said.
To repeat myself, "there is undeniably value to someone in Bitcoin-like mathematics, but there's no guarantee that the person on the street will ever derive that value for themselves directly (in the same way your typical mortgage holder doesn't interact directly with international settlement systems, or heck even interbank before Zelle).
Superficially, crypto exchanges and hawala seems kinda similar, exchange cash in and out in different places (though coin price in any fiat currency fluctuates in ways the fiat currencies don't, usually). The blockchain provides the trust in absence of the social contract. Is this idea way off base?
More seriously, though:
> Initially, Hamas used crypto only to receive small-scale donations from supporters as part of a broader crowdfunding effort, which Israeli officials said has likely raised several million dollars. Around 2020, crypto became a method of large-scale transfers between Iran and the group within the hawala networks, according to the current and former Israeli officials and ex-U.S. officials. Since then, crypto has been “an essential part for their operational activity,” one senior NBCTF official said.
To repeat myself, "there is undeniably value to someone in Bitcoin-like mathematics, but there's no guarantee that the person on the street will ever derive that value for themselves directly (in the same way your typical mortgage holder doesn't interact directly with international settlement systems, or heck even interbank before Zelle).
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