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A Reuters report published today shows that leading blockchain Tron has overtaken Bitcoin as the favorite network for crypto-related terrorist financing.
According to a report today by Reuters, terrorist organizations are now flocking to the Tron blockchain over its rival, Bitcoin. Reuters identified Tron as the top network for crypto transfers to terror organizations like Hamas amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas armed conflict.
Israel Authorities Seize More Tron Wallets Than Bitcoin
This is reflected in the number of crypto seizures since 2021 by Israeli securities agencies. Per the report, Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) froze 143 Tron-based wallets between July 2021 and October 2023.
The NBCTF claimed that the Tron wallets seized were, at some point, used to finance terrorist organizations. The Israeli federal agency indicated that 56 out of the 143 wallets seized were affiliated with the terror group Hamas.
Conversely, NBCTF seized only 30 Bitcoin wallets in 2021, with no other seizure recorded in subsequent years.
Notably, more than 12 people whose funds were seized in the crackdown told Reuters that they have no affiliations with any terrorist organization. The affected crypto users traded digital assets on Tron to support their finances and businesses.
One victim, who only identified himself as Neo, stated that affected individuals could have unknowingly transferred funds to someone affiliated with a terror organization like Hamas.
Israel-Hamas Armed Conflict
It bears mentioning that the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas is considered one of the deadliest in recent times. The terrorist attack on October 7 carried out by Hamas on Israel resulted in the death of 1,200 people.
In a reprisal attack, Israel has killed more than 14,000 people, with authorities stepping up efforts to scrutinize Hamas financing.
Recall that in April, Hamas announced that it would stop receiving crypto donations in the form of Bitcoin due to increased attacks against donors. While Hamas did not mention Tron as its preferred choice, there is still no concrete evidence that the terror organization has shifted to the Justin Sun-owned blockchain network.
Terrorists Prefer Tron-Based USDT Over Bitcoin
Following Reuters’ analysis and interview, the media outlet stated that the popular stablecoin Tether was Tron’s most dominant crypto asset, hosting $48 billion of all issued USDT.
Shlomit Wagman, a Senior Fellow at Harvard University, stated that terrorists now prefer sending funds using USDT on the Tron network, which helps preserve their money’s value, instead of volatile assets like Bitcoin.
Whales Shuffle $845M TRX in Hours
Meanwhile, crypto whale tracking service Whale Alert has observed the movement of large amounts of TRX, the native token of the Tron network, over the past 24 hours.
According to data from Whale Alert, a total of $845 million worth of TRX was shuffled by unknown addresses in eight transactions. In one of the transactions, an unidentified wallet transferred 1,961,300,000 (1.96 billion) TRX worth $202 million to another anonymous wallet.