Binance Freezes Cryptocurrency Accounts Linked to Hamas

According to reports from the Israeli local media Calcalist, the Israeli police have frozen

cryptocurrency

accounts linked to the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas. It is reported that a cyber enforcement team within the Israeli police branch Lahav 433, in collaboration with the country's Defense Ministry, intelligence agencies, and the

cryptocurrency exchange

Binance, identified the relevant accounts, and the confiscated funds will be directed into the Israeli treasury.

Since 2021, Israeli authorities had previously seized approximately 190 Binance accounts suspected of having ties to terrorist organizations. In March of this year, the Chief Executive Officer of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, faced legal action by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which alleged that the platform's management was aware of “Hamas-related transactions” on the platform.

Binance co-founder, He Yi, commented on the matter of “Binance assisting Israeli police in freezing Hamas-related cryptocurrency accounts” on social media, saying: “Firstly, Hamas is currently designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, and any international organization, including banks and trading platforms, is required to cooperate when they receive such inquiries. This is not a decision made by Binance on its own. I don't take a political stance. However, no trading platform has the ability to refuse law enforcement requests; Palestine has a governing government, and Hamas is a local armed group responsible for civilian casualties; this is the issue - Hamas is not equal to Palestine. This freeze is directed at Hamas, not Palestine. To put it in perspective, during the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Russian individuals' accounts were not frozen. So, if you're wondering why your account might be frozen, it's about what you've done.”