Iran oil payment allegations put Binance under scrutiny
Treasury sanctions identify payment businesses in Turkey and Dubai tied to an Iranian financier. Binance disputes reporting about Iranian money flows.
The Wall Street Journal reported on 22 May 2026 that DOJ was investigating Iran’s use of Binance to evade sanctions after its 2023 guilty plea. Its reporting traced Iranian oil receipts through Turkish banks and Zedcex to a Binance account registered to a Dubai subsidiary, then to IRGC-associated wallets. Binance disputed the account.
The Zedcex account recorded about $830 million in combined deposits and withdrawals during 2024 and 2025, the Journal reported. That figure measures total account activity. Zanjani’s spokesperson denied using crypto exchanges for laundering or sanctions evasion.
The companies connecting cash and crypto
Treasury’s 24 July 2026 sanctions notice names businesses supplying payment services to Iranian financier Babak Zanjani’s network. Treasury says his digital-asset companies helped launder money for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.
Treasury had designated Zanjani and the UK-registered exchanges Zedcex and Zedxion on 30 January. The July action extended to supporting businesses, including Turkey’s Zedpay and Dubai’s Zedx DMCC.
| Business named by Treasury | Role described in the notice |
|---|---|
| Zedpay, Istanbul | Provided Zedxion with conventional-currency settlement and cross-border payment capabilities |
| Zedx DMCC, Dubai | Acted for Zedcex, including in relation to its exchange wallets |
| BZ Diamond FZCO, Dubai | Supported Zedxion projects and transacted with Zedxion and Zedcex wallets |
These are Treasury’s stated grounds for sanctions against the named businesses.
Binance’s response
Binance told the Journal it prohibited transactions with counterparties sanctioned at the time and took appropriate action following designation.
The reporting also named blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs: it identified central-bank-linked transfers and proposed a joint investigation in January 2026. Binance declined, according to the document and person cited by the Journal.
In its earlier March 2026 congressional response, Binance said it used more than 25 customer-checking and monitoring tools. It described investigations into two separately identified businesses, Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust, after law-enforcement enquiries.
Binance said it removed Hexa Whale on 13 August 2025 and Blessed Trust in January 2026. The company maintained that it investigated the risks, supplied information to authorities and took appropriate action.
The obligations from the 2023 plea
The DOJ’s November 2023 resolution sets out Binance’s earlier offences. Binance pleaded guilty to anti-money-laundering, money-transmission and sanctions offences and agreed to a financial penalty of about $4.3 billion. DOJ said Binance had caused more than $898 million in trades between US users and users ordinarily resident in Iran between January 2018 and May 2022.
The agreement required Binance to improve its anti-money-laundering and sanctions programmes and retain an independent compliance monitor for three years. Those commitments placed its handling of high-risk accounts under continuing scrutiny.
Sources
- Wall Street Journal: Iran payment investigation, syndicated by To Vimatovima.com
- US Treasury: further sanctions on Zanjani's network, 24 July 2026home.treasury.gov
- US Treasury: sanctions on Zanjani and two exchanges, 30 January 2026home.treasury.gov
- Binance: formal response to congressional inquirybinance.com
- DOJ: Binance guilty plea and resolution, 21 November 2023justice.gov
