$850 Million in Iranian Funds Laundering?"...Binance CEO Directly Refutes WSJ Report

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Following a Wall Street Journal report that an Iran-linked covert payment network moved $850 million through Binance, Binance CEO Richard Teng immediately refuted the claims. Teng asserted that the report was fundamentally inaccurate and failed to reflect key facts.

Bitcoinist reported on May 22 (local time) that the Wall Street Journal published an article claiming an Iran-linked covert payment network moved approximately $850 million through Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. The Wall Street Journal asserted that this activity continued until December 2025, a period of heightened military tensions between the United States and Iran.

Citing internal Binance compliance documents, the Wall Street Journal reported that this payment network appeared to be operated by Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani. Zanjani was described as a figure who had referred to himself as a 'sanctions evasion operator.' According to the report, the network processed $850 million worth of transactions through a single account over approximately two years.

Immediately after the report, Teng directly refuted three points via X (formerly Twitter). He first stated that Binance does not allow transactions with sanctioned individuals, and that the transactions mentioned by the Wall Street Journal occurred before the individuals involved were officially sanctioned. He further claimed that Binance had proactively investigated the matter prior to being contacted by the Wall Street Journal and had provided this crucial information to the newspaper, but it was not reflected in the article.

Teng emphasized that Binance applies a zero-tolerance policy towards illegal activities and operates an industry-leading compliance program. He added that Binance works closely with US and global law enforcement agencies to combat financial crime.

This clash is not the first conflict between Binance and the Wall Street Journal. In February 2026, the Wall Street Journal also reported on alleged $1 billion in Iran-linked cryptocurrency transfers, which Teng at the time refuted as false and defamatory. On March 11, Binance filed a lawsuit against Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, escalating the public dispute into a legal one.

Binance has emphasized its improved compliance performance since pleading guilty to US anti-money laundering and sanctions violations in 2023 and reaching a $4.3 billion settlement with the US Department of Justice. The exchange stated that its exposure to sanctions-related transactions as a percentage of total trading volume decreased by 96.8% from January 2024 to July 2025, and direct exposure to four major Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges also decreased by 97.3% during the same period. In 2025, it also processed over 71,000 law enforcement requests.

In February 2026, the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations sent an official letter to Teng, requesting records related to Binance's alleged Iranian money laundering. Bitcoinist reported that this issue has created an uncomfortable situation for Binance, which has been working to restore institutional trust since its 2023 settlement. Future regulatory actions, the expansion of the US Department of Justice's investigation, and the acceleration of congressional inquiries are expected to depend on undisclosed facts and ongoing legal disputes.

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