The armed wing of the Hamas group, "Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades", called on supporters to send funds using bitcoins, publishing the address of its new blockchain trading wallet. It said that it regularly changes the address on a regular basis to protect donor and recipient privacy.
Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the "Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades", sent out a message calling for financial aid to be sent in the virtual currency as the group faces international sanctions.
“Support the resistance financially through the bitcoin currency,” Obeida said, making it the first time the armed group asks for support as it faces collapse due to economic isolation.
"Ezzedine al-Qassam brigades" has suffered financial crisis after making its former funders enemies. The only remaining actor backing the armed group is Iran, but this support is usually conditional, and at times had stopped and resumed at a lesser rate over differences the two experienced on the situation in Syria.
According to Israeli statistics, Hamas’ armed wing operates some 20,000 fighters, has a semi-regular army and advanced weapons and missile systems compared to other factions.
Bitcoin is an electronic digital currency that relies on encryption and is characterized as a decentralized currency, which is not controlled by third parties and is not subject to the monitoring of government or central banks worldwide.
Encrypted electronic currencies do not have a serial number and are traded online. The group has resorted to Bitcoin seeking to cover up the traces of its supporters.
