Binance’s $110K Iran Claim Is Cute—Too Bad $1.7B in Tether Says Otherwise

Senator Richard Blumenthal isn’t here to audit Binance’s accounting, but he is here to audit their audacity. The Senate’s top dog on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations just dropped a follow-up letter to Binance CEO Richard Teng that basically says, “Nice try, but your math looks like a degen’s spreadsheet after three White Russians.” The exchange claimed it did less than $110,000 in transactions with four major Iranian exchanges last year. Meanwhile, investigative reports from Fortune and the New York Times traced $1.7 billion in crypto flows from Binance-linked wallets straight into the digital pockets of Iran-linked entities. Blumenthal wants every scrap of paper that supports that $110K fairy tale—turn it in by April 14, or face the financial forensic wrath of a very unamused senator.

The Investigation Details

Fortune’s Leo Schwartz and Ben Weiss, teaming up with the New York Times, went full blockchain detectives—minus the trench coats, plus a lot more Chainalysis. Their deep dive uncovered hundreds of millions in tether ($USDT) zipping from Binance VIP accounts to wallets tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and even the Houthis in Yemen. One particularly productive customer? A 79-year-old Chinese resident with VIP status on Binance who casually moved $439 million in USDT from Binance to an external wallet. From there, most of it funneled into Entity A—a wallet cluster Fortune labeled as Iran’s crypto pit stop. Fun fact: Entity A allegedly throws financial dinner parties with Nobitex (Iran’s biggest exchange), IRGC, and Houthi-linked wallets. No RSVPs, just money.

Another Chinese VIP—this one a 38-year-old woman, allegedly—shuttled nearly $200 million through the same mysterious pipeline. Reporters noticed something spicy: both accounts appeared to log in from the same device. Either they’re in a very financially committed relationship, or someone’s got a shared Google account with serious implications. Even spicier? The New York Times found internal Binance labels on some of these accounts reading “Don’t block. Internal accounts.” Because nothing says “compliance” like whitelisting transactions that smell like sanctioned regimes. Oh, and one Iranian national sending fees directly to Entity A? Already name-checked in a UN Security Council report for smuggling crypto for Iran and North Korea. Just a casual Sunday transfer, nothing to see here.

Compliance Timeline Raises Questions

Blumenthal’s letter isn’t just asking questions—it’s serving subpoenas via Google Docs. He wants exact dates: How long did sketchy vendors Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust party on Binance’s platform before someone hit the eject button? According to the senator, Binance took two months to even reply to law enforcement about Hexa Whale, then another two months to finally cut them off. Blessed Trust? Allegedly ran as a Binance vendor for at least five months despite red flags about terrorist financing. Either Binance’s compliance team was on a year-long meditation retreat, or someone forgot to read the part about not enabling rogue states. Blumenthal also asks if Binance has “removed, weakened, or relaxed any compliance policies” since January 2025—because nothing says “trust us” like a sudden policy softening right after a presidential pardon.

Binance's Defense

Binance’s March 6 response was less “we’re sorry” and more “you’re delusional.” In a statement dripping with corporate indignation, the exchange called the reports “demonstrably false, unsupported by credible evidence, and defamatory in several material respects.” They stood by their $110,000 number for direct trades with four Iranian exchanges, insisting their exposure was minimal. Binance also patted itself on the back for eventually taking action against Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust, boasting about “proactive work” to limit “indirect exposure” to Iran-linked addresses. Translation: we didn’t do much, but at least we thought about doing something.

Political Backdrop

Binance’s PR karma is having a rough patch. Just months after President Trump pardoned founder CZ in October 2025—following his guilty plea to Bank Secrecy Act violations—the exchange became the financial backbone of World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the Trump family’s crypto brainchild. Blumenthal previously noted that nearly all of WLFI’s $USD1 stablecoin lives in Binance accounts. And when Abu Dhabi’s MGX dropped a cool $2 billion into Binance? Yep, settled in $USD1. So while Binance plays victim, it’s also cozying up to political royalty and moving sovereign-sized sums. This is the third major congressional side-eye Binance’s gotten this year. Blumenthal called them a “repeat offender” in February. Eleven Senate Democrats already asked the Treasury and DOJ to open investigations. The