Hamas military wing told donors to avoid sending crypto directly from Binance

[bbc.reporter]

This is headshaking heheheheh. It appears that if you want your wallet to be safe and to not be included in possible sanctions or on a list of possible sanctions, it might be a good choice to avoid Bybit, OKX, Kast and Redotpay. There were rumors that wallets were noted as high risk by blockchain analysis companies after making deposits and withdrawals on HTX, the exchange of Justin Sun.



Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, told potential donors that it would prefer if they didn’t use Binance to transfer funds to the militant group’s wallet, according to documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ).

Instead, it listed Trust Wallet, Bybit, OKX, Kast and Redotpay as applications donors could use to transfer funds to an external TRON wallet. The wallet receiving the donations was an external address on the TRON blockchain and was not identified in the filing as belonging to any of those companies.

The Al-Qassam Brigades letter, which appears in full in a DoJ asset-seizure warrant, advised using Tether’s USDT stablecoin and the TRC-20 network, which is used to create and manage fungible tokens on the Tron blockchain.

“It is preferable not to use the ‘BINANCE’ platform to transfer support; and not to enter any data indicating our official name so that your wallet is not blocked and for your safety as well (entering any fictitious data as the recipient of the transfer); You can transfer through the application: trust wallet, RedotPay, OKX, Kast, BYBIT…,” Al-Qassam Brigades said in the letter.

Read in full https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/09/16/hamas-military-wing-told-donors-to-avoid-binance-use-bybit-okx-and-others-instead

[PX-Z]

They really recommends cex like okx and bybit? Is this legit message/announcement from them? Seriously, they're stupid. Did they really expect authorities to simply ignore it? Recommending cex in this context could obviously attract additional scrutiny toward those platforms.

Now I am curious to see how the authorities respond to these exchanges, and what the executives of okx and bybit think about being potentially scrutinized because of this.

[Oshosondy]

They really recommends cex like okx and bybit? Is this legit message/announcement from them? Seriously, they're stupid. Did they really expect authorities to simply ignore it? Recommending cex in this context could obviously attract additional scrutiny toward those platforms.

The problem is that crypto is pseudonymous, while some like monero is anonymous. Another problem is that anyone can be a terrorists. A terrorist can be good person in the public, but helping terrorists to receive money. Some will be traced but I do not think all can be traced. That is very difficult to do even it is beyond what the exchanges can completely avoid. Even terrorists are able to make use of fiat as there are also reports like that. People should know that terrorists money can also be in the bank.

[348Judah]

I don't expect them to be making use of a centralized exchange for some of their transactions if they don't want to be traced or apply sanction; making this announcement is just the way we see it, appearing as if they are endorsing a specific exchange, while some are being cautioned to be used. I don't see any big deal in them making use of a non-custodial wallet that would prevent them from any form of revealing their identity when trying to make a transaction from an exchange.

[Synchronice]

I feel like they are trolling authorities. First of all, it makes no sense to publicly announce that this or that exchanges are recommended for donating crypto for such an organization because you are basically making the road to you public and especially available for authorities.
The funny aspect of this statement is that Trust Wallet, Bybit, OKX and other exchanges now will get a headache from authorities even though they aren't guilty and someone trolled them.

P.S. No exchange or service should be used to support such organizations! Yes, we all support financial freedom and anonymous transactions in general but everything has limits.

[Zlantann]

This is headshaking heheheheh. It appears that if you want your wallet to be safe and to not be included in possible sanctions or on a list of possible sanctions, it might be a good choice to avoid Bybit, OKX, Kast and Redotpay. There were rumors that wallets were noted as high risk by blockchain analysis companies after making deposits and withdrawals on HTX, the exchange of Justin Sun.

It would be senseless to sanction all exchange users because an organisation used the exchange. An investigation should be carried out, and fraudulent transactions should be identified. Binance is now using this news for promotion, as they portray the exchange as clean. None of them are safe. Thank you for the heads-up anyway.

They really recommends cex like okx and bybit? Is this legit message/announcement from them? Seriously, they're stupid. Did they really expect authorities to simply ignore it? Recommending cex in this context could obviously attract additional scrutiny toward those platforms.

Now I am curious to see how the authorities respond to these exchanges, and what the executives of okx and bybit think about being potentially scrutinized because of this.

Based on some publications, the information was gotten from an informant, so it might be true. I don't think they are stupid because this information might have been leaked by an insider. OKX even confirmed that they have already identified the wallet and that they would have confiscated any funds that were transferred there. Other exchanges that were mentioned have not made official statements regarding this finding.

[PX-Z]

.... I don't think they are stupid because this information might have been leaked by an insider.

I don't think you understand my point. But here again, what's your thoughts of Hamas announcing publicly that, "use these xxx cex instead to transfer your donations to us". Do you think authorities will let these xxx exchanges be used for money laundering without knowing those accounts sending donations to a terrosits group? Of course not, even the execs of these exchanges will do anything to prevent such thing to avoid fines and penalties from authorities.

[Zlantann]

.... I don't think they are stupid because this information might have been leaked by an insider.

I don't think you understand my point. But here again, what's your thoughts of Hamas announcing publicly that, "use these xxx cex instead to transfer your donations to us". Do you think authorities will let these xxx exchanges be used for money laundering without knowing those accounts sending donations to a terrosits group? Of course not, even the execs of these exchanges will do anything to prevent such thing to avoid fines and penalties from authorities.

The answers we don't have are who the message was sent to, how, and in what form. It could be in the form of an internal memo secretly sent to donors. A highly sanctioned organisation like Hamas would have mastered the art of sending coded messages. I don't think this message was publicly sent to the sponsors; it was exposed by an insider who is an informant of the US goverment.

[robelneo]

They really recommends cex like okx and bybit? Is this legit message/announcement from them? Seriously, they're stupid. Did they really expect authorities to simply ignore it? Recommending cex in this context could obviously attract additional scrutiny toward those platforms.

Yes, that would make them the next target because they are being recommended even if these donors do not use these CEX the fact that it was mentioned they are under the radar now, stupid Hammas 

Now I am curious to see how the authorities respond to these exchanges, and what the executives of okx and bybit think about being potentially scrutinized because of this.

CEXs do not want to be under strict radar; they will likely cooperate with the authorities and might issue a statement regarding this matter.

[Bitcoin_Arena]

But a few days back I saw news of DOJ claiming that Binance was being used to launder money for sanctioned Iranians. I don't know the extent of the accusation, but such things usually happen right before some lawsuits and fines.

At this point in time, no exchange feels safe because the coins have to move from address to address with time. Maybe we shall reach a point where all coins are labelled as dirty 

And why are they using USDT, which can be frozen at any time anyway?

[Z-tight]

But a few days back I saw news of DOJ claiming that Binance was being used to launder money for sanctioned Iranians.

A few years ago they were also accused of knowingly allowing transactions linked to Hamas to successfully move through their exchange and to the desination wallets. It was part of the case that led to Binance being fined ~4.3B in settlements with the department of justice.

Did these incidents make binance tighten their kyc/aml policies on Iranian linked groups? And is that why Hamas' military have sent this letter to their potential donors, to avoid binance.

[Bitcoin_Arena]

But a few days back I saw news of DOJ claiming that Binance was being used to launder money for sanctioned Iranians.

A few years ago they were also accused of knowingly allowing transactions linked to Hamas to successfully move through their exchange and to the desination wallets. It was part of the case that led to Binance being fined ~4.3B in settlements with the department of justice.

Did these incidents make binance tighten their kyc/aml policies on Iranian linked groups? And is that why Hamas' military have sent this letter to their potential donors, to avoid binance.

So this was the article i was talking about
1. US prosecutors say Chinese groups used Binance to launder $61mn from Iranian oil deals
2. U.S. Attorney Seeks Forfeiture Of $61 Million In Cryptocurrency From The Iranian Military’s Black-Market Oil Sales

it's a new case compared to the other one that happened a couple of years back. Obviously tightening the policies on aq specific group is not easy as they can always use proxy accounts. I believe Iranian nationals are banned from using the platform so they use person or companies linked to other countries as said in the article.

[coin-investor]

At this point in time, no exchange feels safe because the coins have to move from address to address with time. Maybe we shall reach a point where all coins are labelled as dirty 

That's likely going to happen with so many tools created to track addresses and names of the sender and recipient; such a thing is unavoidable, as we have no control over where the money comes from, coming from our sender, unless the sender or the receiver uses mixers for their transaction.
Exchanges should update their security to flag users who receive such funds or receive warnings from authorities.

[bbc.reporter]

They really recommends cex like okx and bybit? Is this legit message/announcement from them? Seriously, they're stupid. Did they really expect authorities to simply ignore it? Recommending cex in this context could obviously attract additional scrutiny toward those platforms.

Now I am curious to see how the authorities respond to these exchanges, and what the executives of okx and bybit think about being potentially scrutinized because of this.

Yes, this is according to the documents released by the department of justice in America. However, this can also be fake news created as an excuse to begin a government takedown on other centralized exchanges except Binance hehehehe.

Also, everyone should remember that CZ was pardoned by the Donald. I speculate that CZ is presently obligated and controlled by the Donald.

[PX-Z]

...However, this can also be fake news created as an excuse to begin a government takedown on other centralized exchanges except Binance hehehehe.

Hmmm. Interesting. I haven't thought about this, this might be true on some point. Coz even though okx and bybit doesn't have license or does not direct under US jurisdiction but im sure they can indirectly influence decision from other licensing bodies, say, like MiCA where these two have license to operate.

As for trump and CZ, i don't want to dive deeper about them and their plan or what related to other exchanges.

[Darker45]

~snip~

However, this can also be fake news created as an excuse to begin a government takedown on other centralized exchanges except Binance hehehehe.

Also, everyone should remember that CZ was pardoned by the Donald. I speculate that CZ is presently obligated and controlled by the Donald.

I don't think this statement alone is enough for the US to "begin a government takedown". I don't even think the US would take down those mentioned by the Al-Qassam Brigade. They didn't even take down Binance which pleaded guilty of violating a number of crimes.

Since we're now speculating here, if this is indeed "fake news created as an excuse", perhaps the government just wants to make easy money from them. That'd be much more preferable, a win-win for all involved.

If they easily took billions from Binance, hundreds of millions from other exchanges like KuCoin and BitMEX, millions from the rest which includes even Coinbase, why can't they also make money from the rest?

[NotATether]

The Al-Qassam Brigades letter, which appears in full in a DoJ asset-seizure warrant, advised using Tether’s USDT stablecoin and the TRC-20 network, which is used to create and manage fungible tokens on the Tron blockchain.

Wow, they're using USDT? Lol. Nobody tell them that Tether can freeze their coins at any notice.

I'd prefer if they stay far, far away from BTC and XMR.

Most of these donors have no idea how blockchain works, which is great because the more they stay away from us, the better it will be.

[RGBTC]

Since we're now speculating here, if this is indeed "fake news created as an excuse", perhaps the government just wants to make easy money from them. That'd be much more preferable, a win-win for all involved.

I don't see the US having an easy chance of doing that, so it's not about the "small change" the US government wants to squeeze out of the exchanges. In fact, the narratives and propaganda they create themselves in this area cost billions of dollars each year. Let's say they just make random accusations against financial services, I see their motive in activating a wider surveillance zone "for free" in order to limit the financial activities of Middle Eastern militant groups.

[bbc.reporter]

...However, this can also be fake news created as an excuse to begin a government takedown on other centralized exchanges except Binance hehehehe.

Hmmm. Interesting. I haven't thought about this, this might be true on some point. Coz even though okx and bybit doesn't have license or does not direct under US jurisdiction but im sure they can indirectly influence decision from other licensing bodies, say, like MiCA where these two have license to operate.

As for trump and CZ, i don't want to dive deeper about them and their plan or what related to other exchanges.

Also, the department of justice has also declared that the donors to Hamas were using the Tron blockchain. If everyone can remember Justin Sun has filed a case against the Donald's DeFi project World Liberty Financial because Justin has claimed that he was being blocked from selling his WLFI tokens hehehehe.

Mentioning OKX and Bybit might only be a trick to make it appear that their real victim will be Justin Sun and Tron! In any case, this is only my speculation but I will not be shocked if it was correct.

[Darker45]

~snip~

I don't see the US having an easy chance of doing that, so it's not about the "small change" the US government wants to squeeze out of the exchanges. In fact, the narratives and propaganda they create themselves in this area cost billions of dollars each year. Let's say they just make random accusations against financial services, I see their motive in activating a wider surveillance zone "for free" in order to limit the financial activities of Middle Eastern militant groups.

I'm sure surveillance is a central part of the package. Which leads me to presume Binance and those that have been hurt with serious fines are now being held hostage possibly to the extent that they're now functioning like honeypots. Resist and there'd be more.

Bybit, OKX, and the rest must have received their fair share of warnings. They must have learned their lessons, too. They must know fines could be imposed, forfeitures and seizures could be enforced, arrests could happen. And, if worst comes to worst, they could be put out of business.