Binance CEO Rejects Report on Alleged Iran-Linked $850 Million Transfers

The CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance has publicly rejected a report alleging the platform was used to move hundreds of millions of dollars for a network linked to Iran. The report, published on May 22, claimed that Iranian financier Babak Zanjani used a single Binance account to process approximately $850 million in transactions over roughly two years, with activity continuing through December 2025.

In a statement on social media, Binance CEO Richard Teng called the report fundamentally inaccurate. He stated that Binance did not permit any transactions with sanctioned individuals on its platform and asserted that the transactions referenced occurred before the individuals involved were formally added to sanctions lists. Teng also said Binance had proactively investigated the issues before being contacted for the report and provided those findings, which he claimed were not published.

The report alleged the network was operated by Zanjani, an Iranian businessman who has described himself as an anti-sanctions operator. It cited an internal Binance compliance document indicating the account in question triggered multiple internal alerts but remained active for an extended...