Since January 2024, cryptocurrency exchange Binance has said it has “significantly reduced exposure” to sanctioned entities and high-risk jurisdictions, including Iran.
Binance stated that its exposure to sanctions as a percentage of total exchange volume has decreased by over 97% throughout that time and is currently at about 0.009% in a blog post titled “Setting the record straight” on Monday.
The post comes after a February 13 Fortune report citing anonymous sources alleging that Binance fired at least five investigators who had supposedly uncovered evidence of Iranian sanctions violations.
Binance denied the allegations on February 15, stating that the report was “categorically false.” “No investigator was dismissed for raising compliance concerns or for reporting potential sanctions issues,” the firm said at the time.
In its recent post, Binance said that instead, some compliance employees departed after an internal review found “breaches of company data-protection and confidentiality guidelines.”
Meanwhile, Binance added that between January 2024 and January 2026, it reduced direct exposure to the four top Iranian exchanges by more than 97%, from $4.19 million to $110,000.
“Recent reporting on Binance’s sanctions compliance relies on incomplete and mischaracterized accounts that do not reflect all of the facts and the full investigative record.”
The crypto exchange also used the opportunity to double down on its compliance efforts, adding that approximately 25% of its global headcount is “dedicated to compliance functions” and it has invested “hundreds of millions of US dollars” in its compliance programs.
Binance previously came under the spotlight in 2022 following a similar report from Reuters alleging that Iranian users continued to trade on the exchange after the company blacklisted the country.
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