Binance pushes back on new WSJ report alleging $850 million in Iran-linked transactions
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Binance CEO Richard Teng denied a new alleging $850 million in Iran-linked transactions flowed through the exchange to the IRGC.
Key facts
Beyond Zanjani's network, the Journal claimed that Iran’s central bank moved $107 million in crypto into Binance accounts in 2025, and a foreign law-enforcement agency tracked roughly $260 million
Binance CEO Richard Teng has pushed back against a new Wall Street Journal investigation claiming the exchange processed $850 million in transactions tied to a sanctioned Iranian financier
Binance CEO Richard Teng denied a new alleging $850 million in Iran-linked transactions flowed through the exchange to the IRGC
Binance pleaded guilty in 2023 to anti-money laundering and sanctions violations and paid a record $4.3 billion fine, pledging to overhaul its compliance systems
Summary
Binance CEO Richard Teng has pushed back against a new Wall Street Journal investigation claiming the exchange processed $850 million in transactions tied to a sanctioned Iranian financier, which eventually flowed to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. In a Friday post on X, Teng called the reporting “fundamentally inaccurate,” saying that Binance never permitted transactions with sanctioned individuals and that any flagged activity occurred before those individuals were placed under US sanctions. The Journal’s report, published on Thursday, identified Babak Zanjani, who was re-sanctioned by the US in January, as the central figure in a secret crypto payment network that ran $850 million through Binance accounts over two years. The Journal claimed that Binance’s internal compliance reports flagged the Zedcex account after detecting access from Tehran in late 2024.