Reports Detail Billions in Crypto Flows Linked to Iran via Binance

Internal compliance reports and data from foreign law enforcement officials indicate that billions of dollars in cryptocurrency have flowed through Binance to networks financing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) [1]. These transactions, which continued into early 2026, allegedly supported the regime’s military forces and proxy groups throughout the Middle East [1].

Key takeaways

• Babak Zanjani, an individual who describes himself as an "antisanction" operator, allegedly moved $850 million through Binance over two years using a network of linked accounts [1].
• Foreign law enforcement officials identified approximately $260 million in direct transactions between Binance accounts and wallets associated with sanctioned Iranian entities during 2024 and 2025 [1].
• Binance investigators internally flagged these accounts as a money-laundering network for the Iranian regime, yet the main account remained active for at least 15 months after being flagged [1].
• Binance states that the information regarding these transactions is inaccurate and maintains that it does not permit business with sanctioned individuals or wallets [1].

The Zanjani Network and Internal Compliance Flags

Internal Binance documents reveal that Babak Zanjani utilized a single trading account to conduct $850 million in transactions between December 2022 and December 2025 [1]. Investigators at the exchange identified a pattern where Zanjani’s associates—including family members and business partners—accessed multiple accounts from the same devices, which they flagged as evidence of sanctions evasion [1]. While Binance’s own internal reports labeled these activities as a money-laundering operation to fund the Iranian regime, the primary account remained operational until January 2026 [1]. Experts tracking terrorism financing estimate that roughly $425 million of the funds moved through the Zanjani network directly supported Iran’s military [1].

Beyond the Zanjani network, other large-scale transfers have been identified. Blockchain data and law enforcement records show that Iran’s central bank moved $107 million through Binance accounts in 2025, and an additional $218 million was sent to an Iranian-state financing network via a wallet that interacted with the exchange in 2023 [1]. These figures are in addition to approximately $1.7 billion in transactions previously reported by The Wall Street Journal [1]. These funds are largely tied to payments from Chinese buyers for Iranian oil, a trade controlled by the IRGC [1].

Why it matters

The movement of these funds has drawn scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice, which is investigating how Iran utilized the exchange to bypass sanctions following Binance’s 2023 guilty plea and $4.3 billion fine for anti-money laundering violations [1]. Treasury Department officials met with Binance executives in March to address concerns regarding the company's compliance with its court-mandated monitorship [1]. While Binance asserts that it has transformed its compliance program to reach near-zero exposure to high-risk areas, the ongoing flow of funds to entities associated with the IRGC—which supports groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis—remains a focal point of international efforts to curb Iranian regime financing [1].