Israeli police and cryptocurrency exchange Binance have frozen multiple cryptocurrency accounts associated with Hamas after the organization's surprise attack over the weekend that left more than 1,200 dead today and sparked the latest conflagration in the Middle East.
As stated in an official press release on Tuesday, the Israel Police Cyber โโUnit 433, in collaboration with the National Headquarters for the Economic War Against Terrorism (MATAL) under the Ministry of Defense, the Shin Bet (Agency Security Agency) and various intelligence agencies, has maintained ongoing efforts to track cryptocurrency systems used by terrorist groups for fundraising purposes.
"According to suspicions, with the outbreak of war, the terrorist organization Hamas started a fundraising campaign on social media, urging the public to deposit cryptocurrencies into their accounts," a police statement said.
"The Police Cyber โโUnit and the Ministry of Defense took immediate steps to locate and freeze these accounts, with the help of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, in order to divert the funds to the state treasury."
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Israeli authorities have seized 190 Binance accounts since 2021
In a lawsuit filed by the US Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) against Binance CEO Changpeng โCZโ Zhao in March, it is alleged that company executives were aware of the โHAMAS transactionsโ that took place on the platform.
As of 2021, Israeli authorities had taken control of approximately 190 Binance accounts suspected of having connections to terrorist organizations. Binance had collaborated with Israeli authorities in the past to combat terrorist financing associated with Iran's Quds Force and Hezbollah.
Terrorist organizations have been using cryptocurrencies for financing for some time.
In 2019, Hamas turned to cryptocurrency donations as a means to circumvent international sanctions. According to The Wall Street Journal, between June 2021 and August 2023, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which was involved in the recent attack on Israel, accumulated $93 million in cryptocurrency, while Hamas managed to raise $41 million.
The most widely used cryptocurrency was the USDT stablecoin, or Tether, due to its price stability relative to the US dollar.
joseph@mugglehead.com
