Binance Has Cut Iran-Linked Exposure by Over 97% Since 2024
Binance says its sanctions compliance framework has sharply reduced exposure to high-risk jurisdictions, including Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges, as the company pushes back against what it calls misleading media coverage of its internal controls.
Key Takeaways
- Binance says it reduced sanctions-related exposure to just 0.009% of total trading volume, down nearly 97% since January 2024.
- Direct exposure to four major Iranian crypto exchanges dropped more than 97%, from $4.19 million to about $110,000 by early 2026.
- The company attributes the decline to major compliance upgrades
According to data cited in the company’s latest report, sanctions-related exposure as a share of total exchange volume fell from 0.284% in January 2024 to just 0.009% in July 2025 – a 96.8% decline. Direct exposure to four major Iranian crypto exchanges dropped even further. Between January 2024 and January 2026, Binance reduced those flows by more than 97.3%, from $4.19 million to approximately $110,000.
Sanctions Exposure Falls to Near-Zero Levels
Binance said its progress reflects structural reforms implemented over the past two years. The exchange expanded sanctions screening and transaction monitoring systems, strengthened wallet surveillance, and upgraded escalation procedures for high-risk flows.
The company also claims it outperformed 10 major global exchange peers in limiting direct exposure to the four largest Iranian exchanges during the same period.
Executives emphasized that public blockchains, by design, allow users to send funds to exchange deposit addresses without prior approval. As a result, exchanges must rely on post-receipt monitoring and layered risk controls to detect and mitigate suspicious activity. Binance argues that recent reporting overlooked this operational reality.
Compliance Spending and Team Expansion
Binance says it has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into compliance infrastructure. As of early 2026, the firm reports:
- 593 full-time employees within its dedicated compliance business unit
- 978 additional employees and contractors in compliance-related roles across customer service, technology, and product
- More than 1,500 personnel overall – roughly 25% of global headcount – focused on compliance functions
The exchange maintains specialized teams covering sanctions, counter-terrorist financing, financial crimes investigations, and special investigations. It states that compliance investigations operate independently from shareholders and executive leadership, with decisions based on legal standards and established procedures rather than commercial considerations.
Law Enforcement Cooperation and Global Oversight
Beyond internal controls, Binance highlights its cooperation with regulators and law enforcement agencies worldwide. In 2025 alone, the company says it assisted authorities in confiscating more than $131 million in illicit funds, processed over 71,000 law enforcement requests, and delivered more than 160 training sessions to help officials combat crypto-related crimes.
The exchange holds licenses, registrations, or authorizations in 20 jurisdictions and became the first crypto platform to secure full authorization under the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market.
Over the past 18 months, Binance reports undergoing multiple independent external reviews, internal audits, and regulatory inspections aimed at tightening governance, customer verification, and risk rating procedures.
Addressing Recent Media Allegations
The report also directly challenges recent press coverage suggesting weaknesses in Binance’s sanctions controls. The company said two entities mentioned in media accounts were subject to structured internal investigations using blockchain analytics tools and coordinated engagement with law enforcement.
According to Binance, none of the users involved were on sanctions lists at the time they accessed the platform, and transactions did not trigger alerts from industry-standard surveillance systems. Once additional information was received from external authorities in mid-2025, Binance initiated a deeper review, applied risk mitigation measures, and ultimately offboarded the accounts while sharing findings with relevant stakeholders.
In one case, the exchange identified indirect exposure involving multi-hop fund transfers routed through at least three intermediary wallets before reaching a sanctioned entity. Binance says its monitoring framework detected and neutralized that indirect risk.
The company also denied claims that compliance employees were terminated for raising concerns. It stated that certain departures were linked to breaches of internal data-protection and confidentiality policies, not retaliation.
Compliance as Core Strategy
Binance argues that risk exposure can never be reduced to absolute zero in any financial system, whether traditional banking, fintech, or crypto. The key measure, it says, is how quickly institutions detect, investigate, mitigate, and report suspicious activity.
With sanctions-related flows now representing just 0.009% of total exchange volume, the company maintains that its compliance framework is functioning as intended and continues to evolve.
As regulatory scrutiny of digital-asset platforms intensifies globally, Binance’s latest figures signal an effort to position compliance not as a defensive necessity, but as a central pillar of its long-term operating model.
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