On Tuesday, Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, froze several accounts linked to Hamas, acting on requests from Israeli law enforcement. The move followed allegations that these accounts were being used to gather war-related funding via social media platforms. This information was revealed in a WeChat post by Binance co-founder Yi He.
He assured that the freeze, which targets Hamas – a group designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations – would not impact ordinary users and Palestinian civilians. The action is part of a broader operation led by Lahav 433, the cyber division of Israel's police force, in collaboration with the country's defense ministry and intelligence agencies.
This operation comes after a multi-pronged attack by Hamas led to a full-scale war and the subsequent siege of Gaza. As part of their response to these events, Israeli authorities have been working with Binance to freeze cryptocurrency accounts linked to the militant group. Since last year, approximately 190 Binance accounts tied to terrorist groups have been confiscated by Israeli authorities.
The funds seized during this operation are earmarked for the Israeli national treasury. Meanwhile, Binance’s CEO, Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, is dealing with a separate issue: a lawsuit from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over alleged "HAMAS transactions" on their platform.
In addition to these measures against Hamas, the Israeli Web3 community has launched a campaign called "Crypto Aid Israel," aiming to collect Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and other ERC-20 tokens like Tether (USDT) donations. The initiative aims to support civilians affected by conflict and has already raised nearly $50,000 in crypto donations.
CoinDesk has reached out to Binance for comments on these events but has yet to receive a response.
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