Amid the escalation of the Hamas-Israel war, the cryptocurrency market has turned its eyes to the Middle East’s secular conflicts, while humanity suffers from war crimes and the number of reported victims continues to increase.
In this context, the Israeli police were able to freeze and seize crypto accounts on Binance, supposedly linked to Hamas on October 10, according to a local media outlet.
As reported, the cyber arm of Israel Police’s Lahav 433 unit worked with the country’s defense ministry, intelligence agencies, and Binance to identify and freeze the crypto accounts they allege were being used to finance Hamas’ terror. Additionally, any funds seized will be kept by the Israeli national treasury, per an official announcement.
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Hamas-Israel escalation, financing, and crypto seizures
Notably, the United States Commodities Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Changpeng Zhao (CZ), CEO at Binance, in March 2023 related to accusations of allowing the Palestinian militant group Hamas conduct financial transactions in his crypto exchange.
Nevertheless, Binance has a compliance history with Israel in the “combat against terror financing”, according to a report by CoinDesk. In 2021, the Israeli police reportedly seized 190 crypto accounts on Binance, allegedly linked to terrorist groups.
“Over the past few days, our team has been working in real-time, around the clock to support ongoing efforts to combat terror financing. We are committed to ensuring the safety and security not just of the blockchain ecosystem, but also the global community, through our proactive work.”
— Binance spokesperson to CoinDesk
Meanwhile, innocent individuals continue to be killed in Gaza’s crossfire. Investors try to forecast the financial effects of the conflict and discussions about the Hamas-Israel conflicts are trending in all sectors, dividing supporters in polarized heat discussions that somehow are trying to legitimize all the violence escalation seen in the past few days.
