Binance Under DOJ Investigation for Possible Iran Sanctions Violations: WSJ

The Department of Justice has begun investigating whether Iran, which is currently engaged in a full-on war with the United States, has used the world’s largest crypto exchange to evade American sanctions, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

The probe comes a few weeks after several US Democratic senators, led by Richard Blumenthal, urged the DOJ and Treasury to look into any potential moves on Binance from Iran-linked wallets.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the WSJ reported earlier today that officials have contacted individuals with knowledge of the Iranian transactions to interview them and gather evidence.

However, the publication said it couldn’t “determine whether the Justice Department is investigating Binance itself for potential misconduct, or solely the customers on its platform.”

As reported over the weekend, Binance officially rejected the allegations made by the US senators, calling the media reports cited in the Senate “false, unsupported, and defamatory claims.”

The company explained that it operates a robust compliance program with more than 1,500 specialists worldwide and advanced monitoring tools designed to detect suspicious activity.

It asserted that its exposure to wallets linked to any sort of illicit activity has declined by nearly 97% since early 2024. However, it admitted that “absolute zero risk is impossible on public blockchains but relies on robust monitoring and controls to minimize and mitigate risks.”

The strikes between the US and Israel on one side and Iran on the other have put crypto back into focus, at least to an extent. Reports emerging in the first hours and days after the attacks began indicated that crypto outflows skyrocketed by triple-digit percentages, and the overall on-chain activity linked to Iran had risen to unprecedented heights.

UPDATE: Additional reports emerged shortly after, informing that the exchange has taken actions against WSJ, suing it for defamation over the original article from late February.

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