Binance Holdings Ltd., the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is facing a sweeping new federal lawsuit in North Dakota, alleging that it knowingly enabled more than $1 billion in crypto transactions for Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad —funds that plaintiffs say helped finance the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent assaults.
More than 300 American victims and family members of those killed, wounded, or taken hostage on October 7, 2023, brought the suit under the Anti-Terrorism Act and its Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act amendment. The 284-page complaint names Binance, its co-founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao, and top executive Guangying Chen as defendants, alleging they “knowingly, willfully, and systematically assisted” designated foreign terrorist organizations for years by providing a platform to transfer and launder hundreds of millions of dollars.
“From the outset, Binance boasted that it maintained no headquarters anywhere in the world. Its now-disgraced CEO and owner, Defendant Zhao, claimed the company was ‘based’ wherever he was situated at any given moment: ‘Wherever I sit is the Binance office. Wherever I meet somebody is going to be the Binance office,’” the lawsuit states. “That is, Binance pitched itself to terrorist organizations, narcotics traffickers, and tax evaders as beyond the reach of any single country’s laws or regulations.”
The October 7 attack left 1,200 people in Israel dead and roughly 250 kidnapped. The plaintiffs argue that the scale and sophistication of Hamas’s assault — including weapon stockpiles and an extensive tunnel network — were made possible by covert funding streams funneled in part through Binance.
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“Binance rapidly grew to be the largest crypto trading platform globally because, as detailed below, it purposely attracted criminals including terrorist organizations like Hamas, the IRGC, Hezbollah, and PIJ to its platform and assisted them to launder money in order to maximize Binance’s trading volume and monetize criminal activities via platform fees,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit asserts that Binance intentionally built itself into a “refuge for illicit activity,” courting high-volume criminal users to boost revenues while evading United States oversight. It cites internal communications in which compliance officials remarked that customers were “here for crime” and joked about advertising Binance as a destination for laundering drug money. The complaint recounts multiple instances in which third-party compliance firms flagged Hamas-linked accounts. Yet, Binance allegedly declined to freeze or report them, instead warning certain customers to withdraw funds before scrutiny intensified.
“Binance not only knowingly provided financial services to Hamas; it actively tried to shield its Hamas customers and their funds from scrutiny by U.S. regulators or law enforcement—a practice that continues to this day,” the lawsuit states.
The filing expands on details disclosed in 2023, when Binance and Zhao pleaded guilty to violating United States anti-money-laundering laws and agreed to a $4.3 billion settlement — one of the largest in American history. Zhao resigned and served a four-month prison term before being pardoned last month by President Donald Trump. Chen was not charged. As part of its plea, Binance admitted it had failed to report suspicious Hamas-related transactions and had permitted millions of dollars in illicit transfers.
The new lawsuit goes further, alleging extensive previously undisclosed transactions involving Hamas, Hezbollah, and the IRGC, as well as a transnational gold-smuggling network in Venezuela that plaintiffs say funneled proceeds to Iran and its proxies via Binance-linked wallets. One Venezuelan woman, allegedly acting as a front for Hezbollah, received $177 million in crypto and withdrew $43 million in cash, according to the complaint.
The suit also identifies several Gaza-based exchange houses and sanctioned individuals who allegedly moved hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrencies through Binance accounts before and after October 7. Plaintiffs argue that assets flowing through these channels “could foreseeably be used to commit terrorist attacks” and that Binance’s actions “directly and materially contributed” to violence against Israelis and Americans.
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