Binance has allegedly seized crypto assets from Palestinians at the request of the Israel Defense Forces [IDF].
Ray Youssef, the Co-Founder of crypto exchange Paxful and CEO at Noones marketplace, revealed via a post on X that Binance refuses to return the funds and has been denying all user appeals.
With the input from several sources and a letter from Israeli authorities, the executive highlighted that the anti-terrorism laws give the Minister of Defense powers to issue a “temporary seizure of property of a declared terrorist organization,” including crypto assets.
The translated version of the affixed letter read,
“Per the anti-terrorism law, crypto assets that have been transferred by declared terrorist organizations are the property of the organization.”
The letter also underlined that the Ministry of Defense ought to command the confiscation of the property for which the seizure order was rolled out.
Binance CEO Richard Teng took to social media to assert that the exchange complies with internationally accepted anti-money laundering legislation, just like other financial institutions. Branding the accusations floating around as “FUD,” he clarified,
“Only a limited number of user accounts, linked to illicit funds, were blocked from transacting. There have been some incorrect statements about this.”
Meanwhile, Youssef affirmed that he had received information from several sources and alleged that this was not the first time the exchange had done so.
Attaching video proofs, he claimed that “Israel is putting massive pressure on Binance and all other exchanges to blanket seize the funds.”
He added,
“ALL Palestinians are affected and judging by the way things are going all Lebanese and Syrians will get the same treatment. Not your keys, not your coins.”
