In brief
- Binance denied violating Iran sanctions with more than $1.7 billion in transactions in a new letter to Senator Blumenthal.
- The Senator opened an investigation into the firm following reporting that it had enabled $1.7 billion in transactions and 2,000 Iran-linked accounts on its platform.
- The exchange previously pleaded guilty to U.S. anti-money laundering laws and violating sanctions in 2023.
Leading crypto exchange Binance denied violating Iranian sanctions compliance in a letter sent in reply to U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn), who recently launched a probe into the firm following media reports on purported violations.
Blumenthal’s probe followed a Wall Street Journal report that alleged that Binance allowed $1.7 billion worth of transactions tied to Iranian entities and sanction-evading trades from Russia to occur on the platform.
“Binance takes its legal obligations seriously and shares your interest in the safety of its platform,” the exchange wrote in the letter. “The recent reporting on which your inquiry relies, however, is demonstrably false, unsupported by credible evidence, and defamatory in several material respects.”
The alleged infractions identified two Hong Kong-based partners, Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust, that allegedly facilitated sanctions-evading transactions and approximately 2,000 other accounts associated with Iranian entities, according to the Wall Street Journal reporting.
But according to Binance, after law enforcement requests about those two…
