Binance denies new WSJ report alleging $850M in Iran-linked transactions

Binance CEO Richard Teng denied a new WSJ report alleging $850 million in Iran-linked transactions flowed through the exchange to the IRGC.

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. He also claimed Binance had investigated the issues before the Journal contacted the company, and that facts it provided were not included in the story.

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. Zanjani’s firm Zedcex, along with accounts belonging to his sister, romantic partner and a company director, all operated from the same devices, per the report.

Read more