Binance And Tether Allegedly Support Terrorism, US Congress Asks DoJ To Take Strict Action

JAKARTA - Two US congressmans from the Republican Party, Senator Cynthia Lummis and French Hill Representatives, urged the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to sue Binance and Tether.

Binance is the largest crypto exchange in the world, while USDT is a stablecoin that is tied to US dollars. USDT was published by Tether. Binance and Tether are suspected of supporting terrorist groups through unlawful violations.

Lummis and Hill sent a letter to the US Attorney General asking DoJ to immediately investigate Binance and Tether. They accused the two companies of violating sanctions and the applicable Bank Secretariat Act.

They also asked DoJ to take legal action against Binance and Tether regarding the Hamas attack, the Palestinian militant group, against Israel. They want the court's decision to reflect the level of error of Binance and Tether in this case.

Previously, Binance had suspended more than 100 accounts suspected of being linked to Hamas. Tether has also blocked digital assets worth more than $873.000 (Rp13.8 billion). These measures show that Binance and Tether have collaborated with law enforcement to prevent financing terrorism with cryptocurrencies.

However, Hamas is known to still fund its activities through crypto. Lummis and Hill's letter states that terrorist groups including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah have received funding through crypto assets since August 2021.

The request for lawsuits against Binance and Tether is very serious, because Lummis and Hill are supporters of cryptocurrency regulation. Previously, 105 congressmen from the two parties also urged the US government to stop using cryptocurrencies because they were allegedly linked to funding hardline groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. On the other hand, Israel also opened crypto donations for the same purpose.

Even so, reports from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis have tried to resolve misunderstandings surrounding the use of cryptocurrencies by terrorist organizations for their funding. The company stated that only a small part of the crypto assets were used for illegal activities. Therefore, Chainalysis asked that this should not be exaggerated.