The Israeli government, with the help of Chainalysis, a crypto investigations firm, confiscated $1.7 million in cryptocurrency from wallets linked to Iran’s Quds Force and Hezbollah, a militant group in Lebanon backed by Iran.
Chainalysis said on Tuesday that this was the first time any agency seized bitcoin from Hezbollah and Iran’s Quds Force.
The crypto wallets were seized several weeks ago after Defence Minister Yoav Gallant approved the move, according a CoinDesk report citing a government statement.
The operation involved Israel’s Mossad spy agency, military intelligence, Israeli police, and others.