Binance Under US Federal Probe Over Iran Sanctions as Bitcoin (BTC) Holds Near $85,700

Manhattan Prosecutors Open Iran Sanctions Probe

Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating whether Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, violated United States sanctions on Iran, people familiar with the matter said. The probe is being led by the Manhattan-based US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, with the Justice Department's criminal division in Washington taking part. Investigators are focused on whether the exchange recognized specific Iran-linked transactions and allowed them to proceed — and they are examining Binance's compliance architecture as a whole, not merely individual transfers. Bitcoin (BTC), the largest asset traded on the platform, changed hands near $85,657 in spot markets at the time of writing, with no exchange-specific stress visible in the order books.

The inquiry lands on a company already bound by one of the heaviest settlements in the industry's history. In November 2023, Binance pleaded guilty to violations of anti-money-laundering rules, unlicensed money transmission and sanctions-related statutes, agreeing to penalties totaling roughly $4.3 billion. Co-founder Changpeng Zhao resigned as chief executive and served a four-month prison sentence. Under that resolution, the Justice Department and the Treasury each installed an independent monitor, and both have tracked remediation since. The company has rejected the underlying allegations, maintaining that no accounts it operated traded directly with Iranian entities, and it has taken its defense to court — including a defamation action against Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal's parent. US financial press reports earlier this year alleged that as much as $1.7 billion may have moved to Iran-linked entities between March 2024 and August 2025, and that an employee tied to the internal review was dismissed. Neither prosecutors nor the exchange has confirmed which specific transactions are under review, and a federal investigation does not automatically produce charges.

$61 Million Forfeiture Suit Adds Pressure

The disclosure comes as US authorities intensify enforcement against Iran-linked digital-asset flows. On September 14, Manhattan federal prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture action targeting approximately $61 million in digital assets they say were generated through black-market sales of Iranian crude oil. According to the filing, the proceeds were destined for the Iranian government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and two Hong Kong-registered vehicles — Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale — used Binance accounts to move the funds. Prosecutors estimate the wider network handled more than $1.5 billion in Iranian oil-sale proceeds, and the complaint stops short of naming Binance itself as a wrongdoer. Unlike physical commodities such as gold, digital-asset transfers leave permanent on-chain records, which is why investigators increasingly favor blockchain forensics — and why obfuscation routes through privacy coins such as Zcash or smaller tokens like Turtlecoin draw heightened scrutiny.

Political pressure has built in parallel. Senator Richard Blumenthal opened a Senate inquiry on February 25, and on April 17 he sent letters to the Justice Department and FinCEN demanding documents on the exchange's compliance monitoring by April 24. Earlier reporting also indicated an internal review had identified more than $1 billion in flows to Iran-linked entities, a figure the company disputed while insisting it cooperated with law enforcement. Binance says that as of February more than 1,500 employees — roughly 25% of its global workforce — were assigned to compliance, a scale it presents as evidence that a custodial platform holding users' private keys treats screening as central. It has also restated a “zero-tolerance” policy on sanctions breaches. In the 2023 plea, the Justice Department said the exchange failed to build adequate controls and that more than $898 million in transactions occurred between US-based and Iran-based users from January 2018 through May 2022. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on Gate.

2023 Compliance Deal Faces Its Test

The September 14 forfeiture complaint on the Manhattan federal docket is the primary document framing this story: it specifies roughly $61 million in assets, alleges proceeds bound for the Iranian government and the IRGC, and identifies the exchange accounts used — without charging Binance. Our reading is that the new criminal probe will turn on a narrow question: whether the post-2023 controls, including the court-appointed monitors and the 1,500-strong compliance staff, actually flagged and blocked the transactions in dispute, or whether the exchange knowingly permitted them. No charges have been confirmed, and a federal investigation can close without action.