Binance CEO Teng Rejects Allegations the Exchange Froze All Palestinians’ Funds

As a seasoned researcher with extensive experience in the field of digital finance and geopolitics, I find myself intrigued by the recent allegations against Binance and the Israeli armed forces. While it is essential to approach such claims with caution, it is also crucial to delve deeper into the facts.

Binance’s CEO, Richard Teng, has refuted accusations that Binance froze all cryptocurrency assets of Palestinians at the behest of the Israeli military, an assertion initially shared on social media by Ray Youssef, the head of the decentralized bitcoin trading platform NoOnes.

In a recent post on X, Teng explained that the term “FUD” (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) was used. It appears that only a select group of user accounts, suspected to be linked with illegal funds, were temporarily restricted from making transactions. However, there have been some inaccurate reports about this matter. As a globally operating crypto exchange, we adhere to international anti-money laundering regulations, much like any other financial institution.

In his blog post, Youssef shared a Hebrew letter from Paul Landes, who is the head of Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing. This letter contained a rejection of an appeal concerning a seizure order issued on November 1, 2023, and mentioned that funds were sent from the Dubai Exchange Company in the Gaza Strip to digital wallets, which included yours among them. The recipient remains unnamed in the letter. Previously, the Dubai Exchange Company was classified as a terrorist organization in 2022, according to the letter.

It can be challenging to determine how much terrorist organizations are relying on cryptocurrency for their activities because it’s tough to trace the owner or a specific digital wallet. In July, the Singaporean government pointed out an upward trend in using cryptocurrencies for terror financing, although they acknowledged that cash and other informal transfer systems still dominate financial transactions.

Since 2021, Israel has confiscated approximately 190 Binance accounts suspected of ties to terrorist activities, according to reports from May last year. Prior to the October 7 invasion that resulted in the death of 1,200 Israelis and capture of another 250 hostages, leading to Israel’s subsequent entry into the territory, more such accounts connected to Hamas were frozen on October 10 at the behest of Israeli authorities. Later in October, the United States announced a list of sanctions that targeted a business offering money transfer and digital asset exchange services in Gaza as a means to pressure Hamas, designated as a terrorist organization in the U.S., U.K., and other regions.