Binance, CZ Secure Legal Win as Court Rejects Claims Tied to 64 Terror Attacks

• U.S.district, Manhattan federal judge dismissed claims linking Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, to 64 terrorist attacks.
• After the ruling, Changpeng Zhao responded on X, saying, “False news is temporary.”

Binance exchange and its founder, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), secured a legal win after a U.S. Court dismissed all claims on cryptocurrency transactions allegedly linked to 64 terrorist attacks globally between 2017 and 2024.  The court ruled that the plaintiffs failed to prove that Binance knowingly supported the attacks.

According to a Reuters report on March 6, the U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas ruled the case, which involves 535 plaintiffs, victims, and their families of terrorist attacks, who claimed that the exchange facilitated transactions linked to multiple international terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Islamic State, Kataib Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, among these organizations.

Even after all these claims, the court said that the claimed relationship between Binance and these organizations was restricted to accounts that transacted using the exchange’s platform, which shows an independent relationship as contrast to any intentional collaboration. 

With that, Judge Vargas stated that the plaintiffs can amend and refile the case with more compelling allegations. But the lawyers of the plaintiffs did not immediately respond. Where the Binance stated in court documents that they strongly opposed terrorism and contended that the plaintiffs were exploiting Binance’s 2023 litigation regarding anti-money-laundering violations as a justification to bolster their terrorism lawsuit. As that 2023 case involved a $4.32 billion penalty for violating U.S. AML and sanctions laws, not for supporting terrorism.

Binance and Zhao Respond to Court Decision

After the ruling came out, Binance exchange wrote on X, “We are pleased to see that the court in this case correctly dismissed these meritless claims. Binance takes compliance seriously and has no tolerance for bad actors on its platform.”

Further, Binance’s Zhao shared his comments on X by reposting his attorney Teresa Goody Guillén’s statement and wrote, “False news is temporary. Truth always comes with time.” 

Zhao added that there is no motive for any centralized crypto exchange to be involved with terrorist groups, noting that such actors do not actively trade and therefore generate no fee revenue for exchanges. He also said that deposits followed by immediate withdrawals would not create revenue.