Judge Yet To Rule On Binance’s Support To Hamas Attack

A federal judge has not yet issued a decision on Binance’s request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by families of victims of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

The case was filed last year in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and accuses Binance and its former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao of providing financial services that allegedly aided Hamas.

During a hearing on January 30, Binance’s legal team argued that cryptocurrency is “not inherently dangerous” and dismissed claims that the exchange had a “special relationship” with Hamas. The lawsuit also names the governments of Iran and Syria as defendants, alleging they offered funding for terrorist activities.

Binance and CZ, who filed a motion to dismiss in June 2024, argue that the lawsuit lacks legal merit. “The best Plaintiffs can muster is that Hamas and other terrorists rely on cryptocurrency to fund their operations,” Binance’s lawyers stated, calling the claim “plainly insufficient.”

Plaintiffs pointed to CZ’s guilty plea in November 2023, weeks after the attack, for failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering program. As part of a $4.3 billion settlement with U.S. authorities, Binance admitted to violating banking laws and sanctions but denied direct ties to Hamas. CZ served four months in federal prison following his plea deal.

Judge John Koeltl has yet to rule on the motion to dismiss, stating that he would decide “at a later date.” As of now, the governments of Iran and Syria have not responded to the lawsuit.

Earlier in August, Binance CEO Richard Teng refuted allegations that the crypto exchange froze all assets belonging to Palestinians at the request of the Israeli armed forces.

The claim was made by Ray Youssef, founder and CEO of the peer-to-peer bitcoin trading platform NoOnes. Teng described the claim as “FUD,” meaning fear, uncertainty, and doubt. 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. As a global crypto exchange, we comply with internationally accepted anti-money laundering legislation, just like any other financial institution.”

Israel has reportedly seized 190 Binance accounts tied to terrorism since 2021. Additional accounts linked to Hamas were frozen on October 10 at the request of Israeli police, following an attack that led to significant Israeli casualties.

Later in October, the U.S. issued sanctions on entities providing money transfers and digital asset exchange services in Gaza to target Hamas, recognized as a terror organization in the U.S., U.K., and other regions.