Binance has frozen over 100 accounts at the request of Israeli law enforcement, who are trying to stop the flow of funds to Hamas, the Palestinian militant group. The crypto exchange has also been asked to provide information on 200 other accounts, mostly on its platform.
Binance, the leading crypto exchange by trading volume, has confirmed that it has frozen over 100 accounts on its platform following a request from Israeli law enforcement.
The accounts are allegedly linked to Hamas, the Palestinian group that launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, triggering a war and a siege of the Gaza Strip.
According to a report by the Financial Times, Israeli authorities have also asked Binance to provide information on another 200 crypto accounts, most of which are held on Binance.
People familiar with the matter told the report that the requests were part of an effort to block Hamas’s funding sources, which the U.S., U.K., and many other countries have designated as a terrorist organization.
Hamas has been using crypto as a way to solicit donations from its supporters around the world as it faces sanctions and restrictions from the traditional financial system.
The group has published several crypto addresses on its websites and social media platforms, asking for contributions in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and other cryptocurrencies.
Binance told CoinDesk last week that it was cooperating with Israeli authorities to prevent terror financing.
The company told the Financial Times that it had “blocked” a “small number” of accounts on its platform but did not disclose how many or how much funds were involved.
A Binance employee, who spoke anonymously, said that the company had to “go back and find all the Binance customers that have had exposure to” each address that Hamas publishes.
Binance is not the only crypto company that has been involved in the crackdown on Hamas funding.
On Monday, Tether, the issuer of the largest stablecoin USDT, said that it had frozen funds in 32 crypto addresses that were linked to terrorism and warfare in Israel and Ukraine.
Tether said that it was working with Israel’s National Bureau for Counter-Terror Financing (NBCTF) to identify and block suspicious transactions.
Binance’s account freeze is a significant move for the crypto industry, as it shows that crypto exchanges are willing and able to comply with law enforcement requests and regulations.
Authorities and analysts can monitor and track crypto transactions, which are not anonymous or untraceable, as some may believe.
