Binance Reaffirms Leading Compliance System, Files Defamation Lawsuit Against WSJ, Denies Investigation by U.S. Department of Justice
WSJ reported that Binance handled approximately $850 million in transactions related to financial networks under Iranian sanctions over the past two years, ultimately flowing to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran.
Binance CEO Richard Teng denied the report, calling it "inaccurate," and emphasized that the platform does not allow sanctioned entities to trade, stating that the related activities occurred before the sanctions.
The central figure in the report is Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani, whose associated accounts formed a secret payment network through the same device. Binance had identified unusual access from Tehran by the end of 2024, triggering alerts, but the accounts were not closed in time. During the same period, related entities of the Central Bank of Iran conducted approximately $107 million in cross-border transactions through the platform.
Binance reaffirms its leading compliance system, has filed a defamation lawsuit against WSJ, and denies being under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Richard Teng has focused on strengthening compliance since taking over as CEO. Previously, Binance's $4.3 billion settlement in 2023 marked a shift from aggressive expansion to regulatory adaptation. The swift public denial and lawsuit against WSJ continue its crisis PR strategy, consistent with responses to earlier allegations of sanction evasion.
In terms of capital strategy, Binance is mobilizing legal resources and PR teams to address the report while optimizing its risk control system, motivated by the need to protect its user base and trading volume. Strategically, it aims to maintain trust through the narrative of "inaccurate reporting" and avoid capital outflow to compliant competitors like Coinbase.
Similar to Binance's gradual strengthening of KYC in response to U.S. investigations in 2022-2023, the platform is currently in a control phase transitioning from gray multi-chain operations to strict global compliance. The Iranian network has exposed persistent vulnerabilities in anonymous trading under sanctions.
This essentially reflects a restructuring of the industry chain driven by regulatory changes. The WSJ report and potential investigations have heightened compliance cost thresholds for crypto exchanges, shifting the risk of sanction evasion from self-assessment by platforms to external mandatory scrutiny, prompting capital to concentrate from high-liquidity but high-risk platforms like Binance to strictly regulated compliant exchanges, achieving a structural transition of the industry from wild growth to controlled transparency.