An unnamed investor has filed a lawsuit against the Israeli Bank Hapoalim in the amount of approximately $22.5 million, on account of the bank allegedly refusing to accept deposits of profits earned via Bitcoin (BTC). Industry media outlet BlockTV discussed the lawsuit in a report on Aug. 9. According to the report, the complaint is being filed as a class action suit, and the investor ultimately plans to sue other Israeli banks on the same grounds. According to the report, Israeli banks are largely anti-crypto because they wish to avoid being scrutinized in connection with crypto-related firms and individuals. However, …

Israeli Bitcoin (BTC) investors are unable to pay their taxes as banks do not accept deposits obtained from cryptocurrencies. Israeli banks freeze up the minute they hear Bitcoin Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports on Aug. 6 that local crypto investors are unable to deposit the returns of their Bitcoin investments into bank accounts due to money laundering and terrorist financing concerns. Bitcoin is not recognized as a currency in Israel and earnings made by trading them are subject to a 25% capital gains tax for individuals and a 47% corporate tax rate for corporations. Those two factors reportedly result in the …

The founders of Orbs — the blockchain startup President Trump invited to his Middle East Peace Plan conference — have become mired in their own fraternal strife. As Israeli news site Globes reported on Aug. 4, Elad Arad is suing his co-founders Uriel and Daniel Peled for having dispossessed him of his share in the firm, among other charges. Peaceful glimmers Orbs is an Israeli blockchain infrastructure-as-a-service firm that raised over $133 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) last year and thus ranked among the top ten ICO projects in terms of capital raised in 2018, as Cointelegraph has …

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh reiterated that his government is considering using cryptocurrency as an alternative to the Israeli shekel fiat currency, English-language local media Al-Monitor reports on July 22. Shtayyeh said at the opening of the Palestine Center for Computer Emergency Response in Ramallah on July 9 that he’ll consider every possibility to enhance the freedom of Palestinian economy that Israel won't be able to block. During his first appearance on Palestine TV, after first taking office in April, he reportedly said: “The Palestinian economy has about 25 billion shekels circulating in the local economy, but we're not forced …

One of the most prominent crypto cybercrimes in recent years took a dramatic turn on June 23, when two Israeli brothers were arrested in connection with the 2016 Bitfinex hack and other crypto-related phishing attacks. Just shy of 120,000 Bitcoin (BTC) were stolen in the attack back in 2016, an amount initially worth $72 million, though after Bitcoin’s meteoric rise in the summer of 2019, the value of the stolen funds now amount to around $1.4 billion. Speaking to Finance Magnates, an Israeli police spokesperson said that Eli and Assaf Gigi bagged tens of millions of dollars from their activities. …

The Supreme Court of Israel has declared that Leumi Bank cannot block the cryptocurrency exchange Bits of Gold’s account on the grounds of regulatory concerns, according to a report by Finance Magnates on June 3. Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling against Leumi, the bank reportedly maintains its stance against dealing with the exchange. The report notes, however, that this ruling sets precedent for Israeli cryptocurrency firms to legally use traditional banking services in the region. In 2017, the Israeli Supreme Court previously ruled in favor of Leumi in a separate case against Bits of Gold, in which the bank restricted …

An Israeli judge has ruled that bitcoin (BTC) is an asset and not a currency, local news site Globes reported on May 21. The judgment is significant because it means profits made by selling the cryptocurrency will now be liable to capital gains tax, Globes notes. Noam Copel, who founded the blockchain startup DAV, had bought BTC in 2011 and sold two years later — making a profit of $2.9 million at today’s rates. During the court case, he had argued that bitcoin should be regarded as a foreign currency, as fluctuations in exchange rates are not taxed. But the …

Israeli police and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have arrested at least two men and reported others in a takedown of a bitcoin-enabled dark web listings site, the Israeli police force announced in two official tweets on May 7. The police revealed that a cross-border investigation successfully traced several suspects who allegedly founded and administered a darknet site — identified as Deep Dot Web in local media reports — which was reportedly a resource for finding illegal dark web marketplaces. Such listed sites hawk illicit goods, such as drugs, weapons, or stolen credit cards, the police alleged. …

Ant Financial, the financial affiliate of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has participated in a $10 million Series A round for QEDIT, an Israeli blockchain privacy solutions firm that develops zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) technology. The news was reported by Israeli daily business newspaper Calcalist on May 7. The Series A was reportedly led by MizMaa Ventures, and its closing was announced alongside partnerships with Ant Financial, major software firm VMWare and RGAX, a subsidiary of Reinsurance Group of America. Both latter firms also participated in the financing round, alongside Meron Capital, venture capital firm Jovono, Collider Ventures and Target Global. The …

The United States Attorney for the District of Arizona (DA) is seeking to retain a defendant in custody in a case of alleged shadow banking for cryptocurrency companies. In a court filing released on May 1, the DA states that they are concerned the accused will flee. The filing follows the official announcement published by the Southern District of New York Attorney in April, ordering to charge an Arizona citizen Reginald Fowler and Israeli woman Ravid Yosef for allegedly operating an unlicensed money transferring business and bank fraud. The recent filing asks the court to detain the defendant pending trial …

The Southern District of New York Attorney has charged an Arizona man and Israeli woman for allegedly shadow banking cryptocurrency companies, according to an official announcement published on April 30. Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the arrest of Reginald Fowler for allegedly operating an unlicensed money transferring business and bank fraud. His purported co-conspirator Ravid Yosef has also been charged with bank fraud and is still at large, according to the announcement. In 2018, the accused allegedly worked for several associated companies that provided fiat currency banking services to cryptocurrency …

The militant arm of Hamas — the de facto ruling authority of the Gaza Strip in Palestine — is reportedly using increasingly complex measures to frustrate authorities’ attempts to track the flow of its cryptocurrency financing. The claim has been made by researchers from blockchain intelligence firm Elliptic, as reported by Reuters on April 26. As Cointelegraph previously reported this January, a spokesman for the group’s military wing had called upon supporters to make donations to the organization in bitcoin (BTC) as a strategy to combat financial isolation. Hamas’ financial isolation stems from its classification as a terrorist organization, in …