A U.S. court dismissed a lawsuit alleging Binance facilitated terrorist financing. Former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao asserted centralized exchanges have no motive to assist terrorist groups due to poor trading economics. The dismissal came despite plaintiffs seeking damages for hundreds of victims of attacks attributed to organizations like Hamas and ISIS.
Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao stated centralized crypto exchanges have “zero motive” to assist terrorists after a U.S. court dismissed a lawsuit accusing the exchange of facilitating terrorist financing. “There are absolutely zero (0) motive for any CEX to have anything to do with terrorists,” Zhao wrote on social media, adding such actors are unlikely to generate trading revenue.
The ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed claims brought by hundreds of victims and relatives of terrorist attacks. The lawsuit alleged Binance, Zhao, and Binance.US operator BAM Trading Services helped terrorist groups move funds through cryptocurrency transactions.
The plaintiffs represented 535 individuals linked to victims of 64 attacks carried out between 2016 and 2024. The incidents were attributed to groups including Hezbollah, Hamas, ISIS, al-Qaeda and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Judge Jeannette A. Vargas dismissed the case after finding the complaint failed to establish a sufficient connection between Binance’s operations and the attacks themselves. The court said the plaintiffs did not plausibly link the exchange’s conduct to the specific attacks that caused their injuries.
The recent win for Binance comes amid growing scrutiny over transactions tied to sanctioned entities. The exchange recently pushed back against allegations raised by a group of 11 U.S. senators, rejecting claims it facilitated transactions tied to Iranian entities.
In a letter to Senators Richard Blumenthal and Ron Johnson, Binance said the February inquiry relied on reports that were “demonstrably false” and lacked credible evidence. The scrutiny followed media reports alleging it processed more than $1 billion in crypto transactions linked to Iranian entities.
