Crypto Aid Israel, an emergency aid fund set up to support Israeli victims of Hamas terrorism, has received over $185,000 in donations despite suffering a phishing attack.
In an October 19 statement shared with CryptoSlate, Crypto Aid Israel said so had completed two rounds of aid distributions of NIS 200,000, about $49,000, to various organizations leading relief efforts in the region.
Some of the beneficiaries of the donations include the Foundation for Advancing Citizens of Eshkol Regional Council, Zaka, Latet and Lev Echad. They spend the funds on search and rescue operations, secure medical equipment and provide basic supplies such as food and transportation to needy citizens.
Eyal Gura, New Digital Initiatives advisor to Latet’s board, said:
“The crypto channel is important, fast and innovative and will allow new contributors to join our global ecosystem and support Israel at such an important time.”
However, the initiative faced challenges, such as a “serious phishing attack” and “a brief outage” that lasted 30 minutes on its website. It was unclear if any money was lost for these incidents.
Meanwhile, the initiative revealed that it has received support from more than 30 companies, including Accounting giant KPMG, crypto wallet provider Zengo and Fuse, helping her raise awareness and financial contributions for her cause.
Crypto Aid Israel is a collective led by influential leaders in the Israeli cryptocurrency community. The collective includes organizations such as 42Studio, MarketAcross, Collider Ventures, CryptoJungle, Nilos, BlockchainB7, Efficient Frontier, Ironblocks, Israel Blockchain Association, Bits Of Gold and KPMG.
The aid began after a terrorist attack by Hamas against Israelis, resulting in the loss of property and lives. Critics of the crypto industry is emphasized its role in funding such incidents, sparking a broader debate about regulation and transparency of digital assets.
As a result, regulators around the world are restricting Hamas’ financial resources. For context, the US government recently sanctioned a Gaza-based crypto broker, Buy Cash, and its operator, Ahmed MM Alaqad, for facilitating crypto transactions for Hamas.
