Israeli authorities have frozen a number of Hamas cryptocurrency accounts in an effort to cut off the organization’s revenue.
Several cryptocurrency accounts linked to the Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas have been frozen by the Israeli police cyber unit Lahav 433 as conflict breaks out between Israel and Palestine.
Israeli authorities reportedly worked with the National Headquarters for Economic Combating Terrorism (MTL), Israel’s equivalent of the FBI, and other intelligence agencies to expose the networks Hamas is allegedly using to raise money.
Authorities froze Binance accounts that they believed were being used to solicit contributions for a social media-based crowdfunding initiative.
The article said that the frozen funds will be delivered to the Israeli state treasury and that the country’s defense forces would continue to collaborate in “fighting the financing of terrorism and damage to the strategic financial assets of the terrorist organizations.”
In 2021, Israeli officials arrested 190 Binance accounts associated with Hamas, drawing attention to the exchange for its possible role in money laundering.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a complaint against Binance in April, disclosing that the exchange had knowledge of transactions involving terrorist groups like Hamas that had taken place on its platform.
According to the CTFC, a finance compliance officer named Samuel Lim told a coworker that terrorists often contribute “small sums” because “large sums constitute money laundering.” A coworker of Lim’s said, “Can hardly buy an AK-47 with $600.”
The exchange submitted a motion in opposition to the commissions’ petition to dismiss the complaint, denying their accusations in the strongest possible terms.
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