Binance is demanding that the Wall Road Journal (WSJ) take away an article in regards to the crypto trade firing investigators who found $1 billion value of crypto being despatched to Iran-linked wallets.
Binance CEO Richard Teng shared a letter addressed to the WSJ’s Editor-in-Chief, Emma Tucker, and Dow Jones Vice President, Jason Conti, on X right this moment that accuses the WSJ of publishing “defamatory claims” in Monday’s article.
It claims that the article comprises “false information” which “should be corrected immediately,” and that any defamatory imputations must be retracted.
Binance says it desires the WSJ to take down the article till the requested corrections are made.
The letter doesn’t explicitly counsel Binance will pursue authorized motion, however says it should replace the piece, “thus potentially avoiding the need for any further action.”
Just lately there was inaccurate reporting about our compliance program.
The Wall Road Journal printed defamatory claims, and regardless of our efforts to set the document straight, the journalist didn’t acknowledge any of our corrections on the allegations. We’ve got despatched the… pic.twitter.com/rgl7KrwqUL
— Richard Teng (@_RichardTeng) February 24, 2026
Binance claims that its shopper, which stays anonymous, “reasonably, cooperatively, and promptly” responded to a collection of questions put ahead by a WSJ journalist.
Nevertheless, it claims the piece “fails to reflect” their responses and “falsely asserts to readers that Binance engaged in illegal conduct by breaching Iranian sanctions.”
“While you solicited our client’s position, your failure to reflect our client’s responses is inconsistent with your ethical obligations to ‘remain fair, accurate and impartial’, and suggests an agenda already set, which does not amount to responsible journalism,” Binance claimed.
WSJ says Binance sleuths discovered sanction-breaking transactions
The WSJ printed the article yesterday with the headline “Binance Fired Staff Who Flagged $1 Billion Moving to Sanctioned Iran Entities.”
It claimed that, based mostly on firm paperwork and unnamed sources conversant in Binance, the investigators have been fired after uncovering a suspicious account owned by the Hong Kong firm Blessed Belief.
The agency converts fiat foreign money into crypto, and the investigators discovered it had despatched greater than $1 billion value of tether (USDT) to a collection of wallets, generally known as “Entity A.”
US regulation enforcement claims Entity A is a shadow banking community run by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that enables Chinese language corporations to pay for Iran’s oil.
The account raised quite a few inside alerts of suspicious exercise all through 2025. By the point the investigation was raised to Binance’s high execs, the lead investigator and the top of sanctions and counterterrorist financing investigations have been suspended, and fired weeks later.
A Binance spokesperson informed the WSJ that the investigators weren’t fired for elevating compliance issues, however as an alternative left “based on individual circumstances.”
They added that the investigation continued after their departure and that the accounts in query have been faraway from Binance.
US President Donald Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the previous CEO of the corporate, weeks earlier than the crypto trade fired the investigators.
All this befell throughout a interval of intense geopolitical pressure between the US and Iran. Iran is topic to world sanctions and, as such, is reliant on cryptocurrencies equivalent to USDT to bypass these restrictions.
Iran is now going through a US armada on its doorstep as Trump continues to construct his nation’s navy presence in an try and strain Iran into dropping its nuclear program.
Binance founding member ‘friend’ of Blessed Belief consultant
The WSJ additionally reported that Blessed Belief loved shut ties with one among Binance’s founding members, Jukai He, in any other case generally known as “Rock.”
Screenshots revealed that Rock had some type of friendship with one among Blessed’s representatives. The investigation additionally discovered that Binance staff, and a tool inside Rock’s group, have been logging into the Blessed Binance account.
Binance representatives informed the WSJ that Rock has no supervisory or operational function inside Blessed Belief, and that no Binance staff had logged into the Blessed Belief account.
It mentioned, “Any suggestion that Blessed Trust was operated, directed, or controlled by Binance is false,” and added that the WSJ’s claims are based mostly on “incorrect investigation records.”
Protos has reached out to the WSJ for touch upon Binance’s article calls for and can replace this piece ought to we hear something again.
