Binance CEO Richard Teng has pushed back against a new investigation alleging the exchange processed $850 million in transactions connected to a sanctioned Iranian financier, the latest in a series of escalating reports casting scrutiny on the world’s largest crypto exchange.
Teng, posting on X on Friday, called the reporting “fundamentally inaccurate,” insisting that Binance never permitted transactions with sanctioned individuals and that any flagged activity took place before those individuals were placed under US sanctions. He also stated that Binance had already begun investigating the issues internally before being approached by the publication, and that factual responses it provided were not reflected in the final story.
Who is at the centre of the allegations
The report, published Thursday, identified Babak Zanjani, re-sanctioned by the United States in January 2026, as the central figure in a covert crypto payment network that allegedly routed $850 million through Binance accounts over a two-year period. Zanjani’s firm Zedcex, along with accounts linked to his sister, romantic partner, and a company director, are said to have all operated from the same devices, per the report.
Internal Binance compliance reports allegedly flagged the Zedcex account after detecting access from Tehran in late 2024. Despite the account triggering more than a dozen further internal alerts, and despite Binance’s own investigators reportedly recommending the accounts be shut down and reported to authorities, the accounts are alleged to have remained active for over a year.
Beyond Zanjani’s network, the report also claimed that Iran’s central bank moved $107 million in crypto into Binance accounts during 2025, and that a foreign law-enforcement agency tracked approximately $260 million in direct transactions between Binance accounts and Iranian terrorist financiers across 2024 and 2025.
Binance’s response
Teng rejected the allegations across the board. “Binance has zero-tolerance for illicit activity and has built and operates a best-in-class industry-leading compliance program that continues to grow,” he wrote on X.
The exchange denied shutting down any internal investigation related to Iran, saying its internal probe continued and uncovered a sophisticated, multi-jurisdictional pattern of financial activity spanning Asia, the Middle East, and beyond. Binance has also separately responded to a US Senate inquiry on the same subject, denying it facilitated transactions to Iranian entities.
A deepening pattern of allegations
This is not the first time such claims have surfaced. In February, a separate report alleged Binance had shut down an internal investigation into approximately $1 billion flowing through the exchange to networks linked to Iranian proxy groups, a claim Binance also denied at the time. Following that, reports emerged that the US Department of Justice had opened an investigation into Iran’s alleged use of Binance to evade sanctions in the wake of the exchange’s 2023 guilty plea.
In response to that reporting, Binance filed a defamation lawsuit seeking damages and a jury trial, saying it had no knowledge of any DOJ investigation and that it continues to cooperate fully with regulators and law enforcement.
The timing is significant. Binance pleaded guilty in 2023 to anti-money laundering and sanctions violations, paying a record $4.3 billion fine and pledging a comprehensive overhaul of its compliance infrastructure. The new reports suggest the alleged fund flows resumed shortly after that settlement.
With fresh allegations continuing to emerge and a DOJ investigation reportedly underway, the pressure on Binance’s compliance credibility shows no sign of easing.
