Brian Nelson was grilled during a House Financial Services Committee hearing providing oversight of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, according to a press release from Representative Tom Emmer on Feb. 14.

Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson had to answer for reports that Hamas received $41 million and Palestinian Islamic Jihad received $93 million in cryptocurrency donations.

He admitted that the reported figures were inaccurate and inflated, and the actual amounts received by the groups were likely much smaller.

Mainstream Media Misinformation

Anti-crypto politicians often embellish the role of digital assets in illicit finance and seldom back up their claims with facts that prove otherwise.

Moreover, the Undersecretary confirmed that the dollar amounts published in the media were incorrect and that cryptocurrencies are not a popular tool used by terrorist organizations.

In October 2023, the big bank-backed Wall Street Journal reported that between August 2021 and June 2023, the two organizations received these sums in crypto.