US Sanctions Bitcoin Address Belonging to Suspected Syria-Based Terrorist Fundraiser

U.S. regulators have sanctioned a bitcoin address belonging to a suspected fundraiser for a Syrian militant group. 

Farrukh Furkatovitch Fayzimatov, 26, a citizen of Tajikistan, has been designated a terrorist fundraiser and recruiter by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). 

Fayzimatov uses social media to recruit members, disseminate propaganda and solicit donations for Hay’et Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), a militant group involved in the Syrian civil war. according to a Treasury Department press release. Fayzimatov reportedly organized community fundraising campaigns to purchase equipment for HTS, including motorbikes.

The first time the Treasury Department added crypto addresses to its list of sanctioned individuals was in 2018, and since then, doing so has become a routine part of OFAC’s designations of international drug dealers, Russian and North Korean hackers and terrorist fundraisers. 

The wallet belonging to Fayzimatov has made 24 transactions on the bitcoin blockchain. The wallet, which is now empty, received and sent about 0.25 BTC in total.