Hamas donor letter directs crypto flow away from Binance

Hamas' military wing told donors to bypass Binance and route funds through five other applications to an external wallet on the Tron blockchain, according to a letter published in a U.S. Department of Justice asset forfeiture filing.

The instruction was specific about the network and the destination. The letter advised using Tether's USDT stablecoin on the TRC-20 network, with Trust Wallet, Bybit, OKX, Kast, and Redotpay listed as acceptable applications. "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…," the Al-Qassam Brigades wrote. The group added that Binance "can be used to purchase currencies only, then use another application to complete the transfer process."

Binance's chief compliance officer, Noah Perlman, framed the directive as validation of its screening: "When terrorist groups tell people to avoid Binance, it shows our controls are working." OKX confirmed that the wallet address in the communication had no association with the exchange and had been flagged by internal controls, meaning customer transfers to it would have been prevented. Kast stated that all customers face identity verification before accessing services, supported by screening providers Elliptic, Sumsub, and Sardine. Bybit declined to comment; Redotpay did not respond.

The filing arrives while Treasury investigates $165 million in cryptocurrency-linked transactions that may have financed Hamas prior to the October 2023 attacks, per reporting by the Wall Street Journal, which also documented $41 million received by connected wallets between 2020 and 2023. The letter illustrates a shift toward external wallet infrastructure for sanctioned groups, a pattern noted in Treasury's 2026 terrorist-financing risk assessment. The filing does not specify whether the listed applications facilitated the transfers or whether the instructions were followed.