Tron DAO Among Favorites For Terrorism Funding: Reports

Based on interviews with seven financial crime experts and blockchain investigations specialists, Reuters reports that Tron has overtaken its rival as a platform for crypto transfers associated with groups designated as terror organizations by Israel, the United States, and other countries. 

According to Reuters, an analysis of Israeli security services' crypto seizures since 2021 reveals a sharp rise in Tron wallet seizures and a fall in Bitcoin wallet seizures.

Between July 2021 and October 2023, Israel's National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF), the agency responsible for such seizures, froze 143 Tron wallets it believed were connected with a "designated terrorist organization" or used for a "severe terror crime," according to Reuters. 

Israel seized 87 Tron wallets this year, including 39 belonging to Lebanon's Hezbollah and 26 belonging to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Hamas ally that joined the assault on Israel from Gaza. As part of the seizures, 56 Tron wallets have been seized, including 46 in March last year connected to a Gaza-based money exchange company called Dubai Co. For Exchange.

Following the Hamas assault, Israel announced the largest seizure of crypto accounts yet, freezing around 600 accounts linked to Dubai Co. without stating which crypto networks were involved. According to Reuters, more than a dozen people whose funds were frozen had been using Tron. 

"Earlier it was Bitcoin, and now our data shows that these terrorist organizations tend to increasingly favor Tron," said Mriganka Pattnaik, CEO of New York-based blockchain analysis firm Merkle Science, citing Tron's faster transaction times, low fees, and stability.

Worth noting, Tron, despite its lack of name recognition outside crypto circles, hosts $48 billion of Tether tokens, according to Tether's website. An anti-illicit finance body based in Paris, The Financial Action Task Force, warned last month that terrorist organizations are seeking to further boost donor anonymity through Tether transfers via Tron.