Binance instructed the Senate its transaction quantity with 4 main Iranian exchanges didn’t exceed $110,000 final yr. Reporting from Fortune and the New York Occasions traced $1.7 billion in flows from Binance-linked accounts to Iran-linked entities.
Senator Richard Blumenthal now could be involved that the change might need misled Congress about that.
In a follow-up letter to Binance co-chief govt (CEO) Richard Teng, Blumenthal expressed his concern that the change might need offered “misrepresentations or misleading information to the Subcommittee and to the public.”
The senator, the rating Democrat on the Senate Everlasting Subcommittee on Investigations, calls for Binance produce paperwork justifying its prior March sixth response and its $110,000 declare.
The escalation follows weeks of reporting by Fortune’s Leo Schwartz and Ben Weiss, in addition to the New York Occasions. Their investigations traced a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands in tether (USDT) from Binance accounts to wallets tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Houthis of Yemen.
Individually, Blumenthal’s authentic February 24 letter additionally inquired about funds to crew members of Russia’s sanctions-evading oil fleet.
The $110,000 declare versus $1.7 billion in flows
Binance dismissed the allegations on March 6 as “demonstrably false, unsupported by credible evidence, and defamatory in several material respects.”
The change mentioned its direct transactions with 4 Iranian exchanges had fallen to not more than $110,000 throughout the yr. Binance highlighted its proactive work in opposition to two intermediaries, Hexa Whale and Blessed Belief, to restrict “indirect exposure to wallet addresses with potential ties to Iran.”
Blumenthal’s new letter questions that company framing.
He asks about Fortune’s reporting of a VIP account registered to a 79-year-old Chinese language resident transferring $439 million in USDT from Binance to an out of doors pockets. That pockets forwarded most of these funds to Entity A, an middleman cluster that Fortune recognized as Iran-linked. Entity A allegedly has a monetary reference to Nobitex, for instance, Iran’s largest crypto change, in addition to IRGC and Houthi wallets.
A second Chinese language VIP, an ostensibly 38-year-old lady, allegedly moved practically $200 million by way of the identical pipeline. Reporters additionally flagged the chance that each accounts might have been accessed from the identical gadget.
Worse, Blumenthal’s letter notes that the New York Occasions reported that Binance labeled a few of these accounts with guide directions, “Don’t block. Internal accounts.”
One Iranian nationwide who despatched crypto charges on to Entity A had appeared in a United Nations Safety Council report on smuggling for Iran and North Korea.
Senator offers Binance two weeks to reply
Blumenthal’s letter lays out a timeline of allegations. Binance, the senator says, took two months to reply to legislation enforcement on Hexa Whale, then took one other two months to take away the entity. Blessed Belief, even worse, allegedly lasted at the least 5 months as a Binance vendor regardless of warnings about its alleged terrorist financing.
The senator now calls for actual dates. When did these entities open Binance accounts, begin transfers, obtain flags from Binance workers, and turn into topics of suspicious exercise studies to US legislation enforcement? The senator additionally asks whether or not Binance has “removed, weakened, or relaxed any compliance policies” since January 2025.
The letter marks the third main escalation about Binance this yr. Blumenthal’s February 24 inquiry referred to as Binance a “repeat offender.” Beforehand, 11 Senate Democrats urged the Treasury and DOJ to analyze. The Wall Avenue Journal reported that the DOJ opened a probe into Iran’s use of Binance to evade sanctions.
Binance, in the meantime, has sued the Wall Avenue Journal for defamation.
The political backdrop makes the compliance points conspicuous.
President Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) in October 2025 after his responsible plea to Financial institution Secrecy Act violations. The SEC additionally voluntarily dismissed its Binance lawsuit in 2025.
Binance then grew to become what Blumenthal referred to as a “vital engine” for World Liberty Monetary, the Trump household’s crypto enterprise. Blumenthal’s February letter famous that the overwhelming majority of WLFI’s USD1 stablecoin sat inside Binance accounts.
Abu Dhabi’s MGX settled a $2 billion Binance funding by way of that USD1 stablecoin.
The value of BNB, the token that Binance issued, is down 31% yr so far. Binance fairness is just not publicly traded.
Blumenthal gave Binance CEO Teng till April 14 to reply.
