According to a report by Reuters on Thursday, Israeli authorities have confiscated approximately 190 Binance user accounts since 2021, which are purportedly linked to terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Daesh.
The report references unpublished documents from the National Bureau for Counter-Terror Financing (NBCTF) of the Israeli Defense Ministry, which serves as a counter-terrorism department.
According to a report by Reuters, there were alleged affiliations between two cryptocurrency accounts at Binance and the Islamic State, a militant jihadist organization that took over areas in Syria and Iraq between 2013 and 2014. The same report revealed that numerous other accounts were believed to be linked to the Islamist group Hamas – an armed Palestinian group that has often clashed with the Israeli Defense Forces.
The Israeli authorities confiscated the funds to “thwart the activity” as stated by the NBCTF on its official website.
Under Israeli law, the defense minister possesses the authority to impose the confiscation of assets linked with terrorism, as assessed by the Israeli ministry.
According to Binance, malicious entities do not create accounts under the names of their illicit organizations. “This is why our team collaborates with law enforcement, and leverages information that is only available to them in order to identify individuals operating accounts for illicit organizations.”
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, is under scrutiny for weak anti-money laundering protocols. Reuters reported in December 2022 that Binance facilitated over $10 billion in transactions for those trying to bypass US sanctions.
Binance asserts its compliance with regulatory standards to uphold the integrity of its platform against any form of infiltration by criminal elements such as terrorists and other malicious actors. The statement further posits that a protracted process is mandated to ascertain the conclusive linkage of an individual account to any potentially illicit groups.
Binance has 750+ compliance employees, assisting law enforcement to freeze/seize $1B+ assets.
