Israeli authorities have seized around 190 Binance accounts suspected of being linked to terrorist groups such as Hamas and Daesh since 2021, Reuters report Thursday.
The report cites never before published document From the Israel National Counterterrorism Financing Authority (NBCTF), the counter-terrorism arm of the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
According to the documents, in January the NBCTF seized undisclosed cryptocurrency from two accounts suspected of having ties to the terrorist group Daesh based in Syria and Iraq. Other government records dating back to 2021 claim that more than 100 of the seized Binance accounts were linked to Hamas, a Palestinian armed group that has often clashed with the Israel Defense Forces.
The NBCTF said on its website that Israeli authorities seized funds to “hinder the activities” of Daesh and “undermine its ability to achieve its goals.”
The NBCTF did not immediately respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment.
Israeli law allows the Defense Minister to order the confiscation of terrorist-related assets as determined by the Israeli Ministry.
Binance came under fire last year for policies that critics say encouraged the exchange’s users to neglect money laundering controls. It has processed more than $10 billion in payments made by companies and other malicious actors, Reuters reports.
Binance says it complies with all regulatory authorities to ensure that terrorists and other malicious actors cannot access its platform. Determining whether an individual’s account actually has a clear connection to a criminal organization is a lengthy process, he said.
“Regarding the specific organizations mentioned in the article, it is important to clarify that malicious individuals have not registered accounts in the names of criminal enterprises,” the company said Thursday in a public response to the report. said. Our team works with law enforcement agencies and leverages information available only to law enforcement agencies to identify individuals operating accounts for illegal organizations. “
The exchange has a 700-member compliance team that handles 1,300 law enforcement requests each week,” Tigran Gambarian, vice president of global intelligence and research at Binance, said in April. told CoinDesk at Consensus 2023.
Daesh saw revival According to the Middle East Institute, since last year in southern Syria
At its height in late 2014, the once sprawling caliphate controlled 100,000 to 110,000 square kilometers of land across Syria and Iraq. A series of armed clashes with the United States and other military groups reduced the area to about 4,000 square kilometers. fall back. Daesh abandoned his last stronghold in Baghz, Syria in 2019.
