Binance named in Hamas warning letter signed by Congress

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—by Protos Staff

Binance has been namechecked in a letter to President Joe Biden voicing concerns about the ability of terrorist organization Hamas “to utilize digital assets to finance its operations.” The letter, which was also addressed to secretary of the treasury Janet Yellen, was signed by 57 members of Congress.

In the letter, it’s claimed that “Hamas-linked digital wallets received about $41 million and Palestinian Islamic Jihad-linked digital wallets received about $93 million between August 2021 and June 2023.” It goes on to clarify that it’s currently unknown how much of this is still under Hamas control and points out that the organization shut down its digital asset fundraising campaign in April of this year.

However, it also states that it’s important to take into account the scope of this campaign and details how Hamas’s digital asset fundraising efforts would target exchanges connected to “adversarial jurisdictions.” These include Russia-based Garantex, Gaza-based Buy Cash, and Binance.

Read more: Why do this obscure Russian exchange’s emails come from Binance?

The letter’s signatories say that “To assist Congress with understanding the size, scope, and duration of Hamas’s digital asset fundraising campaign,” they want written responses to a number of questions, including:

  • How many digital wallets linked to Hamas or the affiliated terrorist organizations has the US been able to identify?
  • What is the timeframe of Hamas’s digital asset fundraising campaign?
  • Has the US blocked or seized any digital assets in the digital wallets linked to Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or Hezbollah?
  • Has the US blocked or seized non-digital assets linked to Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or Hezbollah?
  • Among the assets that have been blocked or seized by the US from Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or Hezbollah, what was the proportion of digital assets compared to traditional assets?
  • Has the United States blocked or seized any digital assets in digital wallets linked to any other designated foreign terrorist organization?

The letter gives President Biden and Secretary Yellen until November 29 to respond and requests that, if this isn’t possible, a classified briefing be scheduled.

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