SINGAPORE, Feb. 28, 2026 — Binance Chief Executive Officer Richard Teng said the company has sent a letter demanding immediate corrections and a full retraction of a Feb. 23 report by The Wall Street Journal that alleged internal investigators flagged more than $1 billion in cryptocurrency transactions linked to sanctioned Iranian entities and were later dismissed.
In a statement posted on LinkedIn on Feb. 25, Teng said Binance’s internal review did not identify violations of applicable sanctions laws and that investigators were not terminated for raising compliance concerns. He added that the company remains committed to its regulatory obligations.
The Wall Street Journal report
The Wall Street Journal article, titled “Binance Fired Staff Who Flagged $1 Billion Moving to Sanctioned Iran Entities,” reported that internal investigators identified transactions allegedly tied to sanctioned Iranian networks and that personnel involved in raising those concerns were later suspended or dismissed, citing company documents and people familiar with the matter, according to the Journal.
Binance response
Teng said the article contained inaccuracies and described it as defamatory. He said the attached letter, dated Feb. 24 and sent by counsel at Withers Bergman LLP, calls on the Journal to correct the article and retract what he characterized as false statements.
According to Teng, Binance’s internal review found no sanctions violations and no investigators were dismissed for raising concerns related to sanctions compliance.
Regulatory context
Cryptocurrency exchanges have faced sustained scrutiny in recent years regarding sanctions screening and anti-money laundering controls. No regulator has publicly announced new sanctions-related enforcement action specifically tied to the matters described in the Wall Street Journal report as of publication.
