Binance Denies $1.7 Billion in Iran Sanctions Violations Amid US Senate Probe

Leading crypto exchange Binance denied violating Iranian sanctions compliance in a letter sent in reply to U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn), who recently launched a probe into the firm following media reports on purported violations.

Blumenthal’s probe followed a Wall Street Journal report that alleged that Binance allowed $1.7 billion worth of transactions tied to Iranian entities and sanction-evading trades from Russia to occur on the platform. 

“Binance takes its legal obligations seriously and shares your interest in the safety of its platform,” the exchange wrote in the letter. “The recent reporting on which your inquiry relies, however, is demonstrably false, unsupported by credible evidence, and defamatory in several material respects.” 

The alleged infractions identified two Hong Kong-based partners, Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust, that allegedly facilitated sanctions-evading transactions and approximately 2,000 other accounts associated with Iranian entities, according to the Wall Street Journal reporting.

But according to Binance, after law enforcement requests about those two firms, additional internal investigations led to offboarding of their accounts. 

“After receiving the requests, Binance investigators initiated a comprehensive review to determine not only Binance’s exposure to the wallets implicated by the outreach, but any other Binance users with such exposure,” the firm said of its investigation into Hexa Whale. It offboarded the account in August 2025, it said. 

A similar internal investigation followed for Blessed Trust, and once more led to the offboarding of the account in January 2026. 

“Once again, Binance appropriately investigated and addressed these issues,” the exchange said.”

In disputing the alleged reporting inaccuracies, Binance also backed its compliance processes, noting that it has “invested hundreds of millions of dollars in compliance infrastructure to build a strong compliance program,” which it said boasts more than 1,500 employees worldwide. 

“Binance has a rigorous compliance program that is consistently growing stronger. When there is credible risk information, Binance investigates, mitigates, offboards accounts, and reports to appropriate authorities,” it wrote. “With respect to the matters described in the letter, that compliance process was, in fact, effective.” 

The recent allegations against the firm come after it pleaded guilty to violating U.S. anti-money-laundering laws and sanctions requirements in 2023. At that time it agreed to pay $4.3 billion penalty, and its co-founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison for his role.  

Zhao was pardoned by President Donald Trump last October after serving his sentence in 2024.