wall street journal (WSJ) revealed that crypto exchange Binance facilitated billions more in Iran-related crypto transfers.
The publication reports that an Iranian investor and self-proclaimed “anti-sanctions” operator called Babak Zanjani used Binance to make $850 million worth of trades in 2024 and 2025.
Binance compliance documents show that Zanjani did most of this activity from a single account that had been open for at least 15 months, even though Binance flagged the account multiple times.
Zanjani’s most recent transaction appears to have been in December, when he transferred $107 million from his digital wallet to his Binance account in 2025 alone.
In addition to these activities, WSJ Foreign law enforcement agencies have reportedly discovered that funds continued to be transferred to Iranian-related entities through Binance accounts throughout 2026.
In the two years leading up to the U.S.-Israel war against Iran, Binance is said to have facilitated billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency transactions that were sent to entities associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
WSJ The report also reported that U.S. Treasury officials met with Binance executives last March and expressed concerns about compliance with the monitoring agreement signed in the 2023 plea agreement.
Binance executives were concerned that compliance would slow growth and sought to shield the business from scrutiny, according to the newspaper and former compliance employees it spoke to.
Who is Babak Zanjani?
Zanjani is a former sheepskin merchant and wealthy businessman. Iran sentenced him to death in March 2016 after he was found guilty of embezzling billions of dollars from the country’s state oil company.
His sentence was later commuted to 2024. A year later, he won a $750 million government contract for his conglomerate, Dotone Group, to build thousands of rail cars for Iran.
He was first placed on the US blacklist in April 2013. Then, in January 2026, he, along with two UK-registered digital asset companies Zedcex and Zedxion, were sanctioned by the US for financially supporting the Iranian regime and aiding in money laundering.
The US claims Zedcex has processed more than $94 billion in transactions.
Iran proposes Bitcoin-based protection racket for Strait of Hormuz
WSJ Zedcex has reported receiving funds from Iranian oil sales through Turkish banks. He then reportedly used his Binance corporate account to transfer funds to a digital wallet linked to the IRGC.
The total transaction value from 2024 to 2025 was $830 million.
Binance’s compliance report shows that the account triggered an internal alert when accessed from Tehran in late 2024, and then triggered 12 additional alerts through November 2025.
Dotone Group is not sanctioned and supports companies involved in logistics, ride-sharing vehicles, and crypto ventures such as Bitbank. Cryptocurrency analysts say his business empire reflects an infrastructure that still evades sanctions.
Binance said the WSJ reported a “fundamental error.”
The magazine reported in February 2026 that Binance fired an internal investigator who discovered $1 billion worth of suspicious transactions sent to Iranian-related entities.
At the time, Binance requested that the article be removed to correct “erroneous information.” then filed a lawsuit WSJ.
A Binance spokesperson recently said: WSJ Binance claimed that the latest article was inaccurate, that it was not processing transactions from sanctioned entities at the time, and that it had taken all appropriate measures.
“The vast majority of these transactions appear to have nothing to do with the Binance platform.”
WSJ Binance said it would not answer specific questions about transactions or transaction amounts.
according to WSJ’s In a recent article, Binance CEO Richard Teng today claimed: WSJ’s The report “continues to contain fundamental inaccuracies about Binance’s commitment to facts and a strong compliance framework.”
The WSJ report continues to contain fundamental inaccuracies about Binance’s commitment to facts and a strong compliance framework.
Fact: Binance does not allow any transactions with sanctioned parties on its platform, and the transactions mentioned by WSJ did occur…
— Richard Teng (@_RichardTeng) May 22, 2026
“Binance has been actively investigating these issues for some time,” he said. WSJ Outreach. Binance provided these facts: WSJ And it wasn’t printed. ”
WSJ report led to US investigation
In March, WSJ In response to the magazine’s report on Binance/Iran, the US Department of Justice reported that it had begun an investigation into Binance.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal had already written to Binance requesting information about the company’s role in sanctions-evasion deals with Iranian and Russian entities.
He claimed that Binance was acting as a “repeat offender” and repeating past crimes.
Binance was fined $4.3 billion in 2023 for failing to implement proper anti-money laundering and sanctions checks. Former CEO Zhao Changpeng was sentenced to four months in prison.
US senator asks if Binance lied to Congress about Iran
As part of the settlement, Binance agreed to implement a compliance monitor to ensure the exchange complies with regulations.
Mr. Zhao was pardoned by US President Donald Trump in October last year. WSJ Binance reportedly enriched the Trump family by $1.2 billion with the help of World Liberty Financial.
