Tron has caught the attention of Israeli security services
Tron has caught the attention of Israeli security services
Until recently, the Tron crypto network has not been related to money laundering and terrorist financing to the same extent as Bitcoin.
However, recent statements from crypto experts confirm an increase in the number of wallet blockchains on the Tron blockchain. This is due to the increased speed of transactions on the network at a lower cost, which has made the network a convenient platform for cryptocurrency transfers and use by terrorist groups targeted by Israel and the U.S.
According to Reuters, there has been a spike in illegal transactions on the network since 2021, confirming a decrease in Bitcoin wallet attacks and an increase in attacks on Tron wallets.
"Our data shows that terrorist organizations have started to prefer Tron," said Mriganka Pattnaik, CEO of blockchain analytics firm Merkle Science.
Israel's security services, specifically the National Bureau for Combating Terrorist Financing (NBCTF), have frozen 143 Tron wallets linked to terrorist organizations since July 2021.
Following the outbreak of active hostilities between Israel and Hamas, controls on the funding channels of terrorist organizations were significantly tightened.
Of the 143 Tron wallets seized, 87 were frozen this year. According to Israeli intelligence officials, 39 wallets are linked to the Lebanese Hezbollah and 26 to Islamic Jihad, which is allied with Hamas.
Tron spokesman Hayward Wong believes, "All technologies could theoretically be used for questionable activities. He stressed that the US dollar is also used for money laundering. However, Tron's blockchain is not linked to the groups identified by Israel because it has no control over those using its technology.
Israel said in June that it had seized funds "intended for use by Iranian-funded terrorist organizations." But the NBCTF did not say Iran was involved.
Iran has previously used Tron to evade U.S. sanctions, when Iranian companies conducted $8 billion in transactions on Tron between 2018 and 2022.
The research found that the Tron network is dominated by the Tether cryptocurrency, the third-largest token with a market capitalization of $89 billion. Tether, the world's largest stablecoin, aims to maintain a 1:1 peg to the dollar. The company said in a statement that it regularly monitors and freezes tokens that are "used for illegal purposes."
Read also: Coinbase International Exchange has expanded its list of perpetual future contracts.
