Israel police freeze Hamas cryptocurrency accounts using Binance

Israeli police froze Hamas cryptocurrency accounts with the help of the Binance exchange

It is reported that the addresses of wallets for cryptocurrency donations were published by the group on social media from the first day of the start of the conflict

The cyber division of the Israeli police in cooperation with the Defense Ministry, the Israel Security Agency, and other national intelligence agencies successfully froze cryptocurrency accounts used by Hamas, the agency's press service reported.

The Hamas group had been using the blocked cryptocurrency wallets to raise funds through social media since October 7, the Times of Israel reported, citing a statement from a police spokesman. The publication also noted that the Binance exchange cooperated with the Israeli authorities, helping to find and close the terrorists' accounts. The seized funds will be transferred to the state treasury.

The Israeli police's cyber unit worked in coordination with British police and managed to freeze another account at the British bank Barclays, whose details were published by Hamas to deposit funds for donations.

In May, Reuters revealed that Israeli authorities had seized 190 Binance accounts allegedly linked to the Hamas and Islamic State terrorist groups since 2021. More than 100 accounts belonged specifically to the Hamas group.

At the time, Binance representatives issued a blog response to the journalists' publication, pointing out that the exchange "closely cooperates with international bodies to combat terrorism."

The March lawsuit of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) against Binance and its head Changpeng Zhao contains fragments of internal correspondence of the exchange's compliance department employees, referring to which the agency accused it of not taking sufficient measures against the use of the site by terrorists.

In particular, a fragment of correspondence dated February 2019 resonated. Having received data "on Hamas transactions" on Binance, in an internal chat, exchange employees ironized the information received. "You can't buy an AK-47 [assault rifle] with $600 either," one of them wrote.