The Israel-Hamas conflict continues to make the news as the days go by.
As of the time of writing, the latest happenings have now come for crypto and for Binance in particular
According to a recent report from Israeli media house, Calcalist-Tech, the Israeli police have now combined efforts with Binance to freeze multiple accounts linked to, and used by Hamas.
Here are some of the more juicy details:
On Tuesday, according to reports, the Lahav 433 Cyber Unit of Israel's police announced that it had collaborated with Binance to freeze multiple crypto accounts linked to Hamas.
The Israeli Ministry of Defence led the initiative and was supported by the police, the Israel Security Agency, and other national intelligence agencies.
The Binance account freezing, as it turns out, follows several deadly attacks carried out against Israel by Hamas since Saturday.
Calcalist-Tech reports that Binance aided the Israeli authorities in pinpointing the accounts, and promptly freezing them.
Reports show that the accounts frozen by Binance were set up by Hamas and have been actively used in fundraising through various social media platforms since Saturday.
Furthermore, it is reported that Israeli authorities had previously seized around 190 Binance accounts with alleged ties to terrorist groups.
In addition to freezing the cryptocurrency accounts, Israel's Police Cyber Unit also collaborated with British police to freeze a Barclays Bank account in the UK, which Hamas had directly referred to for donations.
This new development brings up a few issues.
Crypto, despite its many positive use cases, has been used to finance terrorist and other illegal activities in the past.
However, its positive roles cannot be swept under the rug either.
During international issues like the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, crypto can (and is already) being used to assist those affected by the war.
It can also be used to provide humanitarian aid or to support local businesses.
For example, in Venezuela, crypto has been used to bypass government-imposed money bans.
In Syria, crypto has been used to purchase food and other essential supplies, and the same has also been used to donate to the Ukrainian military during the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Crypto has also been very useful in other international issues, for example, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The price of Bitcoin fell sharply in the early stages of the pandemic, but it quickly recovered and reached new all-time highs in 2021.
This suggests that crypto is seen as a haven asset by some investors during times of uncertainty.
The Israeli authorities and Binance's freezing of the Hamas-linked cryptocurrency accounts is a significant development.
It shows that:
Here's why things may be bad for Binance though:
Recall that in March, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued the crypto exchange for several law-breaking accounts, including money laundering, and knowingly allowing Hamas to use the platform to raise funds.
This war may make things very difficult for Binance in the ongoing lawsuit as the days go by, because if the exchange is found guilty of "knowingly" allowing Hamas on its platform, it just may be the end of Binance.
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