Binance CEO Responds to Allegations of Freezing Palestinian Assets

Binance CEO Addresses Asset Freezing Allegations

Richard Teng, the CEO of Binance, has addressed recent allegations circulating on social media regarding the crypto exchange’s actions concerning Palestinian assets. These claims, initially brought to light by Ray Youssef, the founder and CEO of the peer-to-peer bitcoin trading platform NoOnes, suggested that Binance had frozen all assets belonging to Palestinians at the behest of the Israeli armed forces.

In response to these accusations, Teng stated: “FUD,” referring to the acronym for fear, uncertainty, and doubt, “Only a limited number of user accounts linked to illicit funds were blocked from transacting. There have been some incorrect statements about this. As a global crypto exchange, we comply with internationally accepted anti-money laundering legislation, just like any other financial institution.”

Youssef’s post included a letter, written in Hebrew, from Paul Landes, the head of Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing. The letter was accompanied by a translation and rejected an appeal against a seizure order that dates back to November 1, 2023. It stated that funds were transferred from the Dubai Exchange Company, located in the Gaza Strip, to cryptocurrency wallets, which included the accounts in question. Notably, the letter did not disclose the identity of the recipient.

The Dubai Exchange Company was designated as a terror organization in 2022, according to the letter. While it is well-documented that terror groups may utilize cryptocurrency to finance their activities, precise figures on the extent of this use are challenging to ascertain due to the inherent difficulties in identifying wallet ownership.

In July, the government of Singapore highlighted a growing trend in the use of cryptocurrencies for terror financing, while also emphasizing that cash and other informal value transfer systems continue to dominate financial transaction methods.

According to a report by Reuters from May last year, Israel had seized 190 Binance accounts that were allegedly linked to terrorist activities since 2021. This occurred prior to the significant escalation of violence on October 7, which resulted in the tragic loss of 1,200 Israeli lives and the abduction of another 250 individuals, prompting Israel’s military response in the region.

In the days following the escalation, more accounts associated with Hamas were frozen on October 10 at the request of Israeli police. Furthermore, later that month, the United States issued a sanctions list that included a business involved in money transfers and digital asset exchange services in Gaza, aiming to disrupt Hamas, which is classified as a terror organization in the U.S., the U.K., and several other jurisdictions.