Crypto exchange Binance issued a formal response to a congressional inquiry regarding its compliance practices. The global platform published the response on March 6 to a Feb. 24 letter from U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, the ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which sought records and explanations related to sanctions compliance.
Crypto exchange Binance issued a formal response to a congressional inquiry regarding its compliance practices. The global platform published the response on March 6 to a Feb. 24 letter from U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, the ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, disputing what it described as “false, unsupported, and defamatory claims about our compliance program and sanctions controls.”
Binance claimed:
“Recent reporting on Binance’s sanctions compliance is false, appears to be based on a misunderstanding of the facts, and does not fully reflect the broader investigative work that Binance has undertaken.”
“While the company cannot disclose details that could compromise ongoing law enforcement investigations, we will offer what we can to clarify the record,” the exchang added.
The inquiry referenced reporting by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Fortune that questioned the exchange’s compliance systems and alleged links to transactions involving sanctioned Iranian entities and Russia’s so-called shadow fleet. The Feb. 24 letter launched a formal inquiry into those reports and requested internal documentation tied to sanctions monitoring, user accounts, and potential exposure involving intermediaries.
The response also addressed two entities highlighted in the inquiry: Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust, which media reports described as intermediaries allegedly connected to roughly $1.7 billion in transactions tied to sanctioned Iranian actors and Russian oil operations.
According to the inquiry, the entities allegedly helped move funds to digital wallets associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps while bypassing sanctions related to Russian oil shipments. Binance wrote: “Binance became aware of the concerns with these entities after initiating a proactive investigation in response to law enforcement inquiries. As a result of our investigation, we removed those entities from the Binance.com platform. Moreover, to our knowledge, no Binance account transacted directly with an Iran-based entity.”
Senator Blumenthal’s letter also raised concerns about claims that internal compliance staff flagged suspicious transactions but were later suspended or dismissed. The inquiry requested records related to Iranian users, the two Hong Kong intermediaries, investigations into Russian oil-linked activity, the role of stablecoins such as tether ( USDT), and documentation regarding personnel actions involving compliance staff. Separately, on Feb. 27, a group of 11 U.S. senators urged the Treasury Department and the Justice Department to investigate Binance over potential sanctions and anti–money laundering violations.
Binance’s response maintains that its compliance program continues to expand and that the company works with law enforcement agencies to investigate risks, mitigate illicit activity, and strengthen safeguards across its platform.
- Why did Binance respond to a U.S. Senate inquiry?
Binance issued a formal letter disputing allegations about its compliance program and detailing its anti–money laundering and sanctions enforcement systems. - How large is Binance’s compliance operation?
The exchange says it employs more than 1,500 compliance professionals and uses over 25 monitoring and due diligence tools. - How much illicit crypto has Binance helped authorities seize?
Binance reports assisting law enforcement in seizing more than $752 million tied to illicit activity over the past three years. - What actions did Binance take against suspicious entities?
The company says it removed Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust from its platform after investigations linked their transactions to suspicious external wallets.
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