Hamas Wing Advises Donors to Avoid Binance
A US Department of Justice asset-forfeiture filing dated 9 September reportedly included a letter from Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades advising donors not to use Binance for fund transfers. The letter recommended Bybit, OKX, Kast and RedotPay, and suggested using Tether’s USDT on Tron’s TRC-20 network. It said Binance could be used to purchase cryptocurrency, but transfers should then be completed through another wallet or platform to reduce the risk of account blocking and detection.
Binance said the recommendation suggests its sanctions screening and transaction-monitoring systems are effective. OKX said the referenced wallet was not linked to its exchange and had already been flagged by its controls. Kast also said it applies identity verification and sanctions screening. The filing does not prove that any named platform has weak anti-money-laundering controls.
The case highlights continuing scrutiny of Binance, stablecoins and Tron-based transfers in illicit-finance investigations. Earlier estimates said wallets linked to Hamas received about $41 million in cryptocurrency between 2020 and 2023, while a separate investigation examined up to $165 million in crypto-related transactions. For traders, the news could increase compliance pressure and monitoring around Binance and USDT, but it does not indicate a change in broader crypto-market fundamentals.
Neutral
The direct price impact is expected to be neutral. The filing may trigger short-term media attention, risk reduction and additional compliance scrutiny for Binance, USDT and Tron-based transfers. Traders could temporarily react to concerns about account restrictions, sanctions enforcement or possible investigations, which may increase volatility in related markets.
However, the report does not accuse Binance, OKX, Kast or the other named platforms of failing to meet compliance requirements. The platforms’ responses emphasise screening and monitoring measures, while the disclosure does not introduce a protocol failure, reserve issue or change to crypto-market fundamentals. Historical reactions to similar illicit-finance reports have generally been concentrated in short-lived volatility rather than sustained price trends. Long term, stricter compliance could raise operational friction and affect transaction flows, but it may also strengthen institutional confidence in regulated crypto markets. Therefore, the expected price effect on the mentioned cryptocurrencies remains neutral.