Binance and news reporters are locking horns over a set of serious claims that have put more heat on the exchange’s compliance record. The matter centers on alleged transfers tied to Iran and on the treatment of staff who flagged those moves. At stake is how a giant platform handles risk when past missteps still hang over it.
Allegations And Denials Collide
According to reporting by Fortuneinternal teams found more than $1 billion in transfers linked to Iranian entities that moved through the exchange between March 2024 and August 2025.
The pieces named stablecoin flows on the network run by Tron and pointed to a familiar issuer, Tether.
Reports say several investigators who documented those flows were later let go. That claim, if true, would raise questions about how warnings from inside a company are handled.
Binance pushed back hard. The platform, represented by its leadership, called the claims false and said a full internal review with outside counsel found no sanctions breaches.
The record must be clear.
No sanctions violations were found, no investigators were fired for raising concerns, and Binance continues to meet its regulatory commitments.
We’ve asked for corrections to recent reporting. pic.twitter.com/glA9bdGaw1
— Richard Teng (@_RichardTeng) February 16, 2026
“This is categorically false. No investigator was dismissed for raising compliance concerns or for reporting potential sanctions issues as there are no violations,” the exchange disclosed in an email circulated by Binance CEO, Richard Teng.
“The record must be clear. No sanctions violations were found, no investigators were fired for raising concerns, and Binance continues to meet its regulatory commitments,” Teng said in an X post.
The response noted that none of the wallets in question were sanctioned at the time the activity took place. Still, critics say the real test is evidence and outside oversight, not statements from either side.
An anti-government protest in Iran. Source: Policy Options.
An anti-government protest in Iran. Source: Policy Options.Questions Around Internal Reviews
A separate set of reporting would Financial Times added fuel to the debate last December by showing internal data that, according to that outlet, suggested suspicious accounts continued to move large sums after Binance’s 2023 settlement with US authorities.
That 2023 agreement led to a $4.3 billion penalty and to changes in leadership. The firm’s founder, Changpeng Zhaolater faced legal consequences.
As of today, the market cap of cryptocurrencies stood at $2.35 trillion. Chart: TradingView
Legal experts say there is a meaningful legal line between knowingly processing funds tied to sanctioned entities and handling transactions that later turn out to be problematic.
Records and timestamps matter. So who knew what, and when they knew it. In this case, the exchange says internal checks found no violations and that monitoring continues under the terms of its US settlement.
Regulators Watch Closely
Reports note that the story adds to an ongoing narrative: big crypto firms operating under close scrutiny, where any hint of lax controls draws attention.
This dispute may end with more documentation, an independent probe, or simply with each side standing by its version.
Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView
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