In 2023 the crypto exchange Binance pleaded guilty to violating anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer laws as well as sanctions violations. The company agreed to pay $4.3 billion, one of the largest corporate fines in U.S. history. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to failing to implement proper oversight, and was later sentenced to four months in prison. In response, Zhao agreed to step down as CEO of Binance, and the company consented to government-imposed monitorships, pledging to enter a new phase of “regulatory maturity.”
Binance, however, appears to be reneging on its promise. According to multiple sources and internal documents viewed by Fortune, investigators on the company’s compliance team uncovered evidence that entities tied to Iran had received more than $1 billion through the exchange from March 2024 through August 2025, in potential violation of sanctions laws. The transactions routed through Binance using the stablecoin Tether on a blockchain known as Tron.
