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The military arm of the Palestinian militant group said that it will halt bitcoin donations for "the safety of the donors...especially in light of the intensification of the prosecution and the doubling of the hostile effort against anyone who tries to support the resistance through this currency."

https://www.nobsbitcoin.com/hamas-to-stop-accepting-bitcoin-donations-due-to-privacy-risk-for-donors/

Narwhal Tacos 2y ago

This story is not newsworthy and patently red-flag suspect.

- Only source-link in OP is a coindesk article

- Hamas wouldn’t broadcast something like this unless the amount of BTC received was a pittance

- why would Hamas say ‘stop supporting us’ when they could say ‘support us more privately’

- if Hamas had large donors in responsibly private channels they would never publish this

- references in OP article are questionable

- et al

This is a proper gander “Bitcoin is for Terrists” piece, and I’ll bet 1k satoshis on it.

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Discussion

ODELL 2y ago

it links to a hamas telegram channel with 185k people in it - https://t.me/qassambrigades/27035 - with a post there that translates to the above quote

it is clearly not a "Bitcoin is for Terrorists" piece since it claims that bitcoin is not useful for them

this reminds me of how putin pressured binance to go after navalny donors - https://www.reuters.com/technology/how-crypto-giant-binance-built-ties-russian-fsb-linked-agency-2022-04-22/ - just instead of putin it is Israel and the US

Narwhal Tacos 2y ago

Fair enough, didn’t find that link and obv can’t translate.

Would like to know what/if they offered an alternative, even Monero?

Why would Hamas or any pro-Palestinian group deny funding w/o offering an alternative…?

If I read you right, I agree it seems like a counter-party has crafted this message.

#armchairquarterback

Narwhal Tacos 2y ago

not to spam…I get that Bitcoin is not useful for them, but that implies they have no means of exchanging btc for any useful currency.

If that’s true, fair enough…we’re all way too early.

But I’ve travelled enough to know that money exchange is very fluid, esp in border countries. There’s always connections.

Anyway, not arguing, this report just triggered a couple red-flags for me.

Appreciate you!

Gerald Glickman 2y ago

Exactly. Regardless of true motives or source, the headline (and story overall) is actually a powerful piece of ammo in the "only terrorists use it" conversation.

"No, terrorists actively say to NOT use it because it is not as private as other existing legacy payment systems."

BHN 🍁 2y ago

"Terrorists let people know Bitcoin cannot resist the state"

Sounds like an anti-bitcoin smear to me.

ShiShi21m 2y ago

Hamas is the state over there...

BHN 🍁 2y ago

Government and terrorism are not mutually exclusive.

In fact, they have a long history together.