On August 28, according to Cointelegraph, Ray Youssef, co-founder of P2P crypto platform Paxful and CEO of Noones P2P platform, revealed that crypto exchange Binance seized cryptocurrencies from Palestinian users at the request of Israel and handed them over to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). "Binance has seized all Palestinian users' funds as requested by the IDF. They have refused to return the funds. All appeals have been rejected," Youssef wrote in an X post, citing multiple sources, including a letter from Israeli authorities passed on by Binance. He believes the measure affects all Palestinian users and predicts other countries such as Lebanon and Syria could follow suit. Binance responded by saying that the platform had restricted only certain Palestinian accounts involved in illegal activities. "There are some incorrect statements about this matter," a Binance spokesperson said. "Only a small number of user accounts associated with illicit funds have been banned from transacting." The Binance spokesperson also noted that Binance "like any other Financial Institutions Group, adheres to internationally recognized sanctions regulations" and "above all, we hope for lasting peace across the region."