Binance Fired Back at a U.S. Senator Over Iran Sanctions Allegations

Binance published a formal response on March 6 to a February 24 letter from U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, who had questioned the exchange’s compliance program based on reporting from the New York Times, Fortune, and the Wall Street Journal.

Binance called those reports false, unsupported by credible evidence, and defamatory in several material respects.

What the Senator’s Letter Alleged

Blumenthal’s letter focused on two entities, Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust, which had alleged indirect exposure to wallet addresses with potential ties to Iran. It also repeated a Wall Street Journal claim that Binance compliance had identified 2,000 accounts associated with Iranian entities on its platform despite claiming to ban Iranian users.

What Binance Said in Response

On Hexa Whale, Binance said it received law enforcement requests in April 2025 regarding transactions linked to potential terrorist financing, conducted a comprehensive investigation, provided full user and transaction data to law enforcement in June 2025, and offboarded Hexa Whale on August 13, 2025. On Blessed Trust, a separate law enforcement request arrived in summer 2025, Binance cooperated fully, conducted its own further investigation, and offboarded the entity in January 2026.

On the 2,000 Iranian accounts claim, Binance flatly denied it. The exchange said it suspects the allegation relates to its ongoing work to enhance controls around VPN usage, not to knowingly onboarding Iranian users. Identity verification is mandatory for all customers and any VPN use to circumvent eligibility requirements violates terms of service.

The Compliance Numbers Binance Put Forward

The letter includes specific metrics Binance presented in its defense. The exchange employs more than 1,500 compliance professionals worldwide. It processed over 71,000 law enforcement requests in 2025 alone. Over the past three years it helped agencies seize more than $752 million, including nearly $579 million for U.S. government agencies. Its exposure to wallets involved in illicit activity declined from 0.284% of total exchange volume in January 2024 to 0.009% by July 2025, a 97% reduction. Exposure to the four major Iranian crypto exchanges dropped 97.3% over two years, from $4.19 million to $110,000.

The Employee Termination Question

The letter also addressed reports that compliance employees were fired for escalating concerns. Binance denied this directly, stating most departures were resignations. One termination did occur, but Binance said it followed an internal investigation finding that the employee had violated company policy by unauthorized disclosure of internal user information, not for raising compliance issues.

The response does not resolve the underlying allegations but puts Binance’s counter-narrative on the public record ahead of any potential subcommittee proceedings.

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