Binance has reported a significant reduction in its exposure to sanctioned entities, showing a 97 percent decline since January 2024. The announcement comes after accusations that the exchange violated sanctions and claims that investigators were dismissed for raising compliance concerns.
Fortune recently reported that several investigators were let go after flagging over $1 billion in transactions linked to Iranian counterparties, mostly involving Tether (USDT) on the Tron blockchain over an 18-month period. The report also noted that at least four senior compliance employees departed in the past three months.
Blockchain analytics platform Elliptic highlighted in January that wallets connected to the Central Bank of Iran had amassed more than $500 million in USDT, illustrating the challenges of preventing sanctions circumvention through stablecoins.
In response, Binance detailed its compliance measures in a blog post, describing its program as continuously strengthening. The exchange reported that sanctions-related exposure as a share of total trading volume fell from 0.284 percent in January 2024 to 0.009 percent by July 2025, a 96.8 percent reduction. Exposure connected to the four largest Iranian crypto exchanges also declined by 97.3 percent, from $4.19 million to approximately $0.11 million, outperforming ten major global peers in risk reduction. In 2025 alone, Binance says it processed more than 71,000 requests from authorities and supported over $131 million in confiscations.
The exchange emphasized that recent media reports are based on incomplete information and do not reflect its full compliance record. Binance stated that the entities referenced in the reports were not on sanctions lists and their transactions did not trigger alerts from standard monitoring tools. The company also rejected claims that it dismissed staff for investigating these cases, explaining that some employees left after internal reviews found breaches of data protection and confidentiality policies.
Former CEO Changpeng Zhao echoed this position on social media, noting that negative narratives can be created by citing anonymous or disgruntled sources.
