Cryptocurrencies have helped the group invest its money while bypassing international financial sanctions, according to a report by the Counter Extremism Project. To combat those efforts. "Hamas was an early adopter of fundraising in crypto starting in 2019," said Ari Redbord, a former federal prosecutor and global head of policy and government affairs at TRM Labs, which is working to track Hamas funding. "They were using Telegram channels to solicit donations. They then set up website infrastructure to solicit donations." Yet, experts, including Redbord, emphasize that cryptocurrency remains a small piece of the group's financial strategy.

"As reported by Fast Company, analysts with the Counter Extremism Project claim that they were used to seeing various radical groups requesting donations in cryptocurrencies."

"Analysts with the Counter Extremism Project were used to seeing radical groups asking for donations in crypto currencies. Everyone from neo-Nazis to ISIS sympathizers liked Bitcoin, as it helps avoid oversight from banks and regulators. But in 2020 those with the unenviable job of monitoring hate groups online saw a pro-ISIS group switch its donation preference from Bitcoin to a much smaller and lesser know currency called Monero...'About a year and a half ago this Monero thing took off, and now it’s pretty widespread,' Hans-Jakob Schindler, the senior director of the Counter Extremism Project, says."

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler writes: "While regulators and policymakers dither and try to decide if cryptocurrencies have a future in the economy, early adopters, including terrorists and violent extremists, are exploiting a law enforcement blind spot. The ease by which money laundering and terrorism financing take place with cryptocurrencies and the more dangerous privacy coins are becoming a security threat of our own making through bureaucratic inaction."