Binance is pushing back. Hard. The world's largest crypto exchange published a sweeping compliance defense on February 23, 2026, calling recent press reporting inaccurate and built on false claims from former employees.
The numbers tell a different story than what critics claim. Binance sanctions exposure as a share of total volume dropped from 0.284% in January 2024 to just 0.009% by July 2025. That is a 96.8% decline, drawn from independent industry data.
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The Iranian Exchange Numbers Nobody Expected
Direct exposure to the four largest Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges fell more than 97.3% between January 2024 and January 2026. From $4.19 million down to roughly $110,000. Binance said it outperformed 10 major global exchange peers on that metric.
As Binance posted on X, the reduction in direct Iranian exchange exposure was paired with what it called an operational reality. Public blockchains are permissionless. Anyone can send funds to a deposit address. Zero exposure is structurally impossible on any open blockchain platform.
According to ">Binance on X, the exchange outperformed 10 major global exchange peers in managing exposure to Iranian platforms, cutting risks that were already low compared to competitors.
What actually counts, the exchange argues, is what happens after funds arrive. Monitoring. Screening. Reporting. Binance says it executes on all three.
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71,000 Law Enforcement Requests. One Compliance Team.
The compliance unit is not small. As of early 2026, Binance employs 593 full-time staff in its compliance division. Total compliance-related headcount, counting contractors and cross-functional roles, sits at 978. Overall, more than 1,500 individuals handle compliance functions. That is approximately 25% of Binance's global workforce.
In 2025 alone, the team processed more than 71,000 law enforcement requests worldwide. It supported authorities in confiscating over $131 million linked to illicit activity. The exchange also ran more than 160 training sessions for law enforcement globally.
As ">Binance posted on X, the outcome reflects industry-leading procedures coordinated with relevant authorities at every stage, calling any claim otherwise false.
The recent press reports also alleged that Binance fired compliance staff for raising concerns on these cases. Binance denied that directly. Some employees were terminated after breaches of internal data-protection and confidentiality guidelines were confirmed, the exchange said. The cases described in the reporting were not the reason.
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Two entities referenced in the reporting went through a structured internal investigation. Blockchain analytics tools were used. Law enforcement coordination happened. Risk mitigation ran throughout. According to Binance's full compliance blog post, none of the users flagged were on sanctions lists when active on the platform, and none triggered alerts from standard on-chain surveillance tools.
One case involved funds flowing through at least three wallet hops between Binance and a sanctioned entity. Classic indirect exposure. Binance said its process caught it and the account was shut down.
As ">Binance stated on X, the recent reporting relies on incomplete information and false claims from former employees, presenting what it called a distorted view of how compliance controls operate at large global exchanges.
Binance holds licenses or registrations across 20 jurisdictions. It was also the first crypto exchange to secure full authorization under the FSRA of ADGM's regulatory framework. Independent audits, regulatory inspections, and external reviews have been conducted across multiple markets in the past 18 months, the exchange confirmed.
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According to ">Binance on X, independent industry data confirms the sanctions-related exposure decline from 0.284% to 0.009% of total exchange volume, describing it as measurable progress.
