Treasury urges crypto companies to ‘prevent’ terrorist financing

Deputy secretary Wally Adeyemo said that the Treasury will engage in helping crypto companies take steps to prevent terrorist financing

article-image

Burdun Iliya/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

The US Treasury’s Deputy Secretary, Wally Adeyemo, has warned crypto firms to ensure that terrorist organizations are not able to use crypto to raise funds.

“Our expectation is that financial institutions and digital asset companies and others in the virtual currency ecosystem will take steps to prevent terrorists from being able to access resources. If they do not act to prevent illicit financial flows, the United States and our partners will,” Adeyemo said in a speech in London on Friday.

The Treasury Department’s deputy secretary added that it’s “committed to engaging” with crypto firms on the steps needed to prevent organizations like Hamas from moving funds.

“But, there are those in the digital asset space who wish to innovate without regard to consequences instead of doing so responsibly, including protecting against illicit financing,” he said.

Read more: Experts anticipate ‘wave’ of crypto seizures following Hamas attacks

Adeyemo’s speech comes a day after Senator Cynthia Lummis and Rep. French Hill addressed US Department of Justice Attorney General Merrick Garland in a letter focused on Binance and Tether.

“We urge the Department of Justice to carefully evaluate the extent to which Binance and Tether are providing material support and resources to support terrorism through violations of applicable sanctions laws and the Bank Secrecy Act,” the two wrote.

They also asked Garland and the DOJ to “reach a charging decision on Binance” and  “expeditiously conclude [their] investigations into the ongoing illicit activities involving Tether.”

Tether, in a post on Thursday, said there’s “no evidence” that it violated sanctions laws or the Bank Secrecy Act. Binance did not return a request for comment.

Lummis and Hill referenced a controversial Wall Street Journal report, though Adeyemo’s speech lacked any mention of it. 

The report from the WSJ — which claimed entities such as Hamas raised millions through crypto based on now-debunked data from Elliptic — spurred over 100 Democrats to pen a letter to the Biden Administration asking for answers on how terrorist organizations are able to raise money through crypto.

Elliptic has since publicly refuted the data used in the WSJ report, claiming that Hamas has not raised millions in crypto. The WSJ report also drew widespread critique from members of the crypto industry. 


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Maple Finance has successfully navigated significant market challenges through its strategic pivot to secured lending (Maple v2) and the launch of its Syrup product. Syrup has become a primary growth driver, delivering sustainable, outperforming stablecoin yields and rapidly increasing TVL. The upcoming custody-first Bitcoin staking product (istBTC) presents another significant avenue for expansion. Crucially, Maple has achieved operational profitability, a key inflection point that, combined with a fully vested token and active buyback mechanism, strengthens its investment case. While valuation metrics suggest potential undervaluation relative to peers and growth, the primary forward-looking risk identified is the long-term sustainability of its current high-take-rate collateral staking revenue model.

article-image

Sponsored

Instead of endless wallet popups, users could connect once, set clear rules, and delegate permission to an app or to an AI agent.

article-image

Prediction markets show that people bet in anticipation of things happening far too often

article-image

The agency’s final deadline is in October

article-image

Higher inflation historically lags behind tariff implementation, so don’t celebrate just yet

article-image

VanEck launches its first tokenized fund after financial giants convene at SEC roundtable

article-image

The “GameFi” platform that began its development while part of Zynga is launching another NFT collection