Binance Claims Reuters Missed Out on ‘Critical Facts’ in Recent Report
- Reuters claims that 190 Binance accounts have been seized by Israel since 2021 due to their links to the terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic State.
- Israel’s NBCTF said that it confiscated the accounts on Binance to “thwart the activity” of Islamic State and “impair its ability to further its goals.”
- The exchange claims that the authors of the Reuters report are “deliberately leaving out critical facts” related to the matter.
- “It’s important to clarify that bad actors don’t register accounts under the names of their criminal enterprises,” Binance said.
The struggle between the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, and renowned media outlet Reuters is well known to the crypto community, and it is also a fact that many believe that the crypto exchange is being wrongfully accused by the media outlet in its reports. On the other hand, multiple reports from Reuters claim that the leading crypto firm does not comply with laws and is negligent when it comes to KYC rules and regulations.
In a recent report, Reuters claimed that around 190 accounts on Binance have been seized by Israeli authorities since 2021 due to some of them being linked to the terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic State. Citing the documents released by the country’s counter-terror authorities, the Reuters report claims that two accounts and their contents were confiscated on January 12.
Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) stated on its website that it confiscated the accounts on Binance to “thwart the activity” of Islamic State and “impair its ability to further its goals.” It is important to mention here that the document did not mention the amount of crypto that was seized nor how the accounts were connected to Islamic State.
The media outlet claims that Binance did not respond to its calls and emails on Thursday prior to it making the article live. However, after the article went live, the exchange stated that Reuters was “deliberately leaving out critical facts.” The crypto trading platform claims that it has been “working closely with international counter-terrorism authorities” on the seizures.
“With regard to the specific organizations mentioned in the article, it’s important to clarify that bad actors don’t register accounts under the names of their criminal enterprises,” Binance said, while adding:
“Our policies and processes comply with AMLD5/6 anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing requirements, and we have a robust compliance program that incorporates sophisticated anti-money laundering and global sanctions principles and tools to detect and address suspicious activity. We even have specialists on our team who have focused their entire careers on counter-terrorism.”
Binance further added that the authors of the Reuters article, Tom Wilson and Angus Berwick, have taken several shots at the exchange but left out critical facts in each of their reports.
In October 2022, Wilson and Berwick published a report after gathering secret information from “30 former employees, advisers, and business partners and a review of thousands of company messages, emails, and documents dated between 2017 and early 2022.” The report stated that Binance executives, along with its co-founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao, devised methods to “insulate” themselves from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
The exchange has been facing multiple accusations from various entities as well. As reported earlier by Bitnation, Binance, Changpeng Zhao, and three influencers have been named in a $1 billion lawsuit alleging that they engaged in the promotion of unregistered securities. Additionally, reports claim that the exchange has hidden its ties to China, adding that executives repeatedly gave orders to staff members to cover up the firm’s Chinese presence.
On the other hand, the US arm of the crypto exchange, Binance US, has been unable to secure banking partnerships to support its customers in the region. The recent failures of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and the Signature Bank have left the leading US exchange without a partner.