This revelation comes straight from Ray Youssef, who stated that the exchange refuses to return the funds. All appeals have been denied. Palestinians affected by this decision have found their accounts frozen with no way to access their crypto assets.
The seizure is reportedly tied to Israeli law—specifically, the Anti-Terrorism Law of 2016. The law gives Israel’s Minister of Defense broad powers to confiscate property deemed to be linked to terrorism. A seizure order, labeled T56/23, was signed on November 1, 2023, under this law.
The claim is that cryptocurrency wallets, including those owned by Palestinians, have received funds from a group designated as a terrorist organization by Israel. This group, the Dubai Exchange Company operating in Gaza, was flagged by Israel in 2022.
“I have received this from several sources. All Palestinians are affected and judging by the way things are going all Lebanese and Syrians will get the same treatment. Not your keys, not your coins. We are all Palestinians now.”
This is why I cashed out what little crypto I had for physical bullion (gold, silver) that I store at my own home.
Plenty of people laugh at me, but who’ll be laughing when we are all killing each other over a puddle of drinkable water or scraps of food?
Not me, either, but I might at least be able to barter for a few days before getting killed for it by some ragtag militia.
The most important aspect of crypto is that you only control it if you have the keys in a private wallet.
By putting it in an exchange all control of the crypto is lost.