How Hamas Lost its Crypto In An Israeli Operation, Binance Supports Security Forces

Israeli law enforcement launched an operation targeting crypto addresses associated with the terrorist group Hamas. The country suffered an attack this past Sunday, leading to deaths and many civilians disappearing.

A local news media Calculist report confirmed an operation led by the Israeli Police Department and the National Counterterrorism Headquarters, part of the Ministry of Defense. The operation was supported by the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance.

During the operation, the law enforcement agencies discovered funds raised by the terrorist group via crypto donations. The investigation led the cyber unit from the Israeli Police to the crypto trading venue.

The terrorist group launched the campaign in the past few days. The law enforcement agencies claimed that Hamas used the attention from Sunday’s attack to raise money from radicals and supporters worldwide.

The terrorist group, the report claims, turned to social media platforms to launch the campaign. A spokesperson for the law enforcement agencies told Calculist the following regarding the events:

As the war broke out, Hamas launched a fundraising campaign on social networks, asking the public to deposit crypto into its account. The cyber unit and the NSC have been working immediately to locate and freeze the accounts, assisted by the Crypto Exchange (Binance), to freeze the funds (…).

The report claims that Binance has been aware of Hamas’s operation on its platform. In a separate report from CoinDesk, some data suggests previous cooperation between Binance and Israeli law enforcement.

The company helped Israel to freeze almost 200 accounts connected to Hamas and other terrorist groups. A spokesperson for the crypto exchange told CoinDesk:

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.

Following the events of the past Sunday, the conflict between Israel and Hamas escalated. The nation-state declared war on the terrorist organization and appeared to be preparing to increase its offensive on the Gaza Strip in response to the terrorist group.

In this context, the cooperation between Binance and local enforcement seems likely to increase. Israel will fight Hamas across all sectors, including the nascent industry and its related companies and tools.

Cover image from Unsplash, chart from Tradingview