Binance Formally Rejects US Senate Claims of Iran Sanctions Violations

The world’s largest crypto exchange has issued a formal response to a letter from US Senator Richard Blumenthal, strongly rejecting claims that its compliance systems are weak or that it enabled any sort of illicit financial activity.

Binance indicated that the media reports cited in the Senate inquiry contain “false, unsupported, and defamatory claims” about its sanctions controls and AML procedures.

Binance Responds

The statement emphasized that Binance operates a robust compliance program supported by more than 1,500 specialists worldwide and advanced monitoring tools designed to detect suspicious activity. In addition, the company said it had been highly cooperative with law enforcement, adding that it processed over 71,000 such requests in 2025 alone.

It explained that its team helped authorities seize more than $750 million in illicit assets, including almost $580 million for US agencies. Binance also claimed that its exposure to wallets linked to some sort of illegal activity has declined by nearly 97% since early 2024, which includes a 97.3% drop in exposure to major Iranian crypto trading platforms.

Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust, two of the entities named in the inquiry, were proactively investigated and removed from the platform following internal reviews triggered by law enforcement requests. It added that no Binance account conducted direct transactions with Iran-based entities. It also rejected allegations about internal whistleblowers by explaining that employee departures were part of normal turnover.

Nevertheless, the company also said it “acknowledges that absolute zero risk is impossible on public blockchains but relies on robust monitoring and controls to minimize and mitigate risks.”

The Inquiry

11 Democratic senators, led by Richard Blumenthal, urged the DOJ and Treasury in a letter sent in late February to investigate Binance over alleged Iran sanction violations in 2026. The inquiry cited findings uncovered by the exchange’s own compliance personnel last year, in which they discovered that $1.7 billion in digital assets had flowed to Iranian-linked entities.

Some of the names identified in the letter included Iran-backed Houthis and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It also claims that a Binance vendor allegedly directed $1.2 billion in one instance to Iran-linked accounts.

They added that Iranians had reportedly accessed more than 1,500 accounts on Binance, and further alleged that the exchange may have been used to help Russia evade US sanctions.

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