Crypto’s biggest exchange fights back against allegations of moving billions of Iran-linked money

Crypto exchange Binance is aggressively refuting reports from The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Fortune alleging that it fired employees who identified billions of dollars in transactions linked to sanctioned entities, including Iran-backed groups. Binance co-CEO Richard Teng called the WSJ's reporting "inaccurate" and "defamatory," citing a letter from the exchange's counsel. The WSJ article claimed Binance staff identified $1 billion moving to terror groups and that investigators were dismissed after identifying these issues, while also mentioning an additional $1.7 billion transferred to Iran-backed groups in 2024 and 2025. Binance maintains that an internal review found no evidence of sanctions violations related to the described transactions and stated that any suspicious activity detected was reported, proving their controls are working. The exchange previously claimed in a blog post that recent reporting on its compliance was inaccurate and relied on "false claims by disgruntled former employees."

(Source：CoinDesk)