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Crypto exchange giant Binance accused of seizing crypto funds of Palestinians at the behest of IDF

By arseniotoledo // 2024-08-30

Cryptocurrency exchange giant Binance has been accused of seizing crypto funds held by Palestinians following a request from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). This allegation was first raised by Ray Youssef, founder and CEO of peer-to-peer bitcoin marketplace NoOnes, who wrote on X that "Binance has seized all funds from all Palestinians as per the request of the IDF. They refuse to return the funds. All appeals denied." (Related: Armed Israeli settlers attack West Bank village, burning down properties and killing a young Palestinian man.) Youssef cited a letter allegedly sent by Paul Landes, head of Israel's National Bureau for Counter-Terror Financing. The letter, citing Israeli "anti-terror" law, was rejecting an appeal against a seizure order dating from Nov. 1, 2023, and refers to funds transferred from the Dubai Exchange Company in the Gaza Strip to cryptocurrency wallets and later seized by the Israeli Ministry of Defense and claims that the Dubai Exchange Company is a designated terrorist organization. The anti-terror law cited by the ministry enables the IDF to issue orders to "temporarily" seize property tied to designated terrorist organizations. This would not be the first time that the Israeli government has used its laws against so-called terrorism to seize cryptocurrency wallets. According to a Reuters report from May 2023, several months before the current conflict in Gaza, Israel had seized 190 Binance accounts it claims were tied to terrorists since 2021. On Oct. 10, 2023, at the request of Israeli police, Binance complied with orders to freeze accounts on the exchange allegedly linked to Hamas. Later that month, the United States issued a list of sanctions that included a business that provided money transfers and digital asset exchange services in Gaza as a means of squeezing Hamas. Youssef warned that this affects not only people in Gaza and the West Bank but citizens of other countries bordering Israel. "All Palestinians are affected and judging by the way things are going, all Lebanese and Syrians will get the same treatment," said Youssef. "Not your keys, not your coins."

Binance denies seizing crypto wallets of Palestinians for Israel

Binance CEO Richard Teng has firmly rejected the allegations, responding directly to Youssef on X, writing "FUD," a cryptocurrency industry acronym for "fear, uncertainty and doubt." "Only a limited number of user accounts, linked to illicit funds, were blocked from transacting. There have been some incorrect statements about this," wrote a Binance spokesperson. "As a global crypto exchange, we comply with internationally accepted anti-money laundering legislation, just like any other financial institution." "More importantly, we hope for a lasting peace through the region," the representative concluded, without elaborating on how many accounts linked to "illicit funds" were impacted and prevented from freely transacting on the platform. Binance did not elaborate on the specific extent or value of the so-called "illicit funds" involved. According to CoinTelegraph, citing data shared to the news outlet by website analytics source SimilarWeb, Palestinians have a very minor presence on Binance, with traffic coming from the Palestinian territories only amounting to roughly 0.05 percent of visits to the platform over the past year. This minuscule presence is on par with the presence on Binance of small nations like El Salvador and Albania, which both have a 0.06 percent traffic share, and Malta, which has a 0.03 percent traffic share. However, SimilarWeb did note that Palestine's traffic on Binance has surged by more than 80 percent since August 2023. Watch this video of a Palestinian man who was illegally detained by Israel recounting how soldiers tortured them. This video is from the channel Cynthia's Pursuit of Truth on Brighteon.com.

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