Crypto alternate Binance pushed again towards a current report by Fortune, rejecting allegations that it enabled sanctions-violating transactions tied to Iran and fired compliance investigators who raised considerations.
Fortune reported Friday that inner investigators at Binance found greater than $1 billion in transfers linked to Iranian entities transferring by way of the platform between March 2024 and August 2025. The transactions had been stated to contain Tether’s USDt (USDT) stablecoin on the Tron blockchain.
Citing unidentified sources, the report claimed that at the very least 5 investigators, a number of with law-enforcement backgrounds, had been later fired after documenting the exercise. The outlet additionally reported that extra senior compliance employees had departed the corporate in current months.
Binance disputed the characterization in a proper response. “That is categorically false. No investigator was dismissed for elevating compliance considerations or for reporting potential sanctions points as there are not any violations,” the alternate wrote in an electronic mail shared by CEO Richard Teng.
Binance denies sanctions violations after inner assessment
Binance stated it carried out a full inner assessment with outdoors authorized recommendation and located no proof it had violated relevant sanctions legal guidelines in reference to the referenced exercise. It additionally rejected the suggestion that the alternate failed to satisfy its regulatory obligations underneath ongoing oversight.
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The dispute lands as Binance stays underneath heightened scrutiny since its 2023 settlement with US authorities during which it agreed to pay $4.3 billion for Anti-Cash Laundering (AML) and sanctions violations. Founder Changpeng Zhao stepped down as CEO and later served a four-month jail sentence. Binance additionally agreed to being monitored and pledged to strengthen compliance controls.
Binance denied claims it’s failing to satisfy regulatory obligations, saying it continues to cooperate underneath monitoring and oversight necessities. “The article means that Binance is “reneging” on its regulatory obligations. This assertion is fake,” the alternate stated.
Binance acknowledged Cointelegraph’s request for remark, however had not responded by publication.
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FT report questions Binance compliance controls
A December report by the Monetary Instances additionally claimed that Binance allowed a gaggle of suspicious accounts to maneuver vital sums by way of the alternate even after its US legal settlement in 2023. Inner information reviewed by the publication confirmed 13 such consumer accounts had about $1.7 billion in transactions since 2021, together with about $144 million after the plea settlement.
“We take compliance critically and reject the framing of the Monetary Instances report,” a Binance spokesperson informed Cointelegraph on the time, including that every one transactions are assessed “based mostly on data accessible on the time,” and that not one of the wallets referenced had been sanctioned when the exercise referenced occurred.
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