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Binance has rejected claims about investigators finding $1 billion in Iran-linked transactions and losing their jobs over the issue. The allegations followed a 13 February investigative report by Fortune. The report tied the activity to March 2024 through August 2025 and described transfers using USDT on the Tron network. Binance executives say the report is faulty and that the company is aligned with regulatory commitments.
The Fortune report said Binance compliance investigators flagged more than $1 billion linked to Iran. It placed the activity between March 2024 and August 2025 and mentioned the transfers used Tether’s USDT and operated on Tron.
The report described Tron as an ecosystem that regulators monitor with rising scrutiny for potential sanctions-avoidance activity. It informed that the flagged transactions involved Iranian entities. The Fortune report also relied on anonymous sourcing for the internal account.
It further claimed that at least five members of the investigative team were fired after exposing the anomalies internally. It said the group included senior investigators with law enforcement backgrounds. These claims fueled fresh focus on sanctions controls at large crypto platforms.
Binance Co-CEO Richard Teng publicly denied the allegations. He sent a formal letter to Fortune through Binance’s communications team. The letter called the story baseless and cited “gross material inaccuracies and misleading implications.”
Teng said the record must be clear on three points. He said no sanctions violations were found. He also said Binance did not fire investigators for raising concerns.
Teng added that Binance continues to meet its regulatory commitments. He said the company asked for corrections to published reports. At the same time, Changpeng Zhao also rejected claims that Binance dismissed investigators after Iran-related findings.
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The dispute arrives at a time when stablecoins are drawing attention as tools for moving funds outside traditional banking systems. The text described a broader focus on entities in Iran using stablecoins, where banking access is restricted. It also linked the debate to the role of crypto in cross-border payments.
In that context, the text cited separate reporting by The Block on the denials and the wider scrutiny. It framed the situation as a complex interaction between crypto operations and international regulatory frameworks. The allegations therefore sit inside a larger compliance debate.
The text also pointed to prior reporting by blockchain analytics firms TRM Labs, Chainalysis, and Elliptic. It said they have reported rising use of USDT by Iranian-linked actors to move funds outside banking circuits. With no new enforcement action cited, the matter remains a direct clash between anonymous-source reporting and categorical denials—so who should the public trust when claims and rebuttals collide?
Binance has denied a Fortune report that claimed over $1 billion in Iran-linked USDT moved on Tron and that investigators were fired. Co-CEO Richard Teng said no sanctions violations occurred and said the company requested corrections. Investors are closely watching regulatory responses to the situation.
