Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has denied allegations of seizing funds from Palestinian users. Recent reports suggested otherwise, but Binance has refuted these claims.

“There have been some incorrect statements around this,” a Binance spokesperson commented.

On August 26, Ray Youssef, the co-founder and former CEO of the peer-to-peer crypto exchange Paxful, shared an image indicating a “temporary seizure of property of a declared terrorist organization” by Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing. This included the confiscation of crypto assets.

“Binance has seized all funds from all Palestinians as per the request of the IDF. They refuse to return the funds. All appeals denied. Your funds are SAFU at @noonesapp tho.”

Youssef’s claims suggested that Binance had seized Palestinian user funds and refused to return them. However, Binance clarified that only a small number of user accounts, linked to illicit funds, were blocked from transacting. This action was taken to comply with internationally accepted sanctions legislation.

In February, Binance agreed to a $4.3 billion plea deal after the exchange and its former CEO pleaded guilty to charges of anti-money laundering and sanctions violations. The charges included facilitating transactions for the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

In October 2023, Binance allegedly blocked over 100 user accounts related to Hamas, as requested by Israel.

According to Youssef’s post, Binance customer service directed a Palestinian user to contact an email address associated with the Israeli police.

“Ok here is video proof from a Palestinian. This is 100% confirmed. Israel is putting massive pressure on Binance and all other exchanges to blanket seize the funds of ALL Palestinians. The document in the original post has 500 names but there have been many such versions of it…”

Binance has not responded to requests for information on the screen recording of its customer support.

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