Treasury orders US banks to stop transfers to MEXC over $16 billion in illicit transactions

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Treasury Department's financial intelligence bureau, issued an order on November 6, 2026 that bars US financial institutions from processing funds transfers to or from crypto exchange MEXC Global. The bureau said the exchange moved at least $16 billion connected to sanctions evasion, cybercrime and other illicit activity between May 2021 and May 2026. The order was issued under section 9714(a) of the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act and takes effect 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register, according to the Treasury announcement.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tied the action to Iran. "Financial institutions cannot have it both ways: Either you support the Iranian regime, or you have access to the U.S. financial system," he said in the release. "Treasury will continue to sever the Iranian regime's economic lifelines and thwart its desperate attempts to circumvent U.S. sanctions using digital assets."

FinCEN's findings cover five years of activity. The bureau counted nearly $1.5 billion in transactions linked to Russian sanctions evasion, including $232 million in direct transfers with entities sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom. MEXC was still processing transactions with sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex and its successor Grinex as recently as June 2026, more than four years after the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Garantex in April 2022. The Treasury release also listed at least $26 million in transactions benefiting the sanctioned Russia-based A7 sanctions evasion network and almost $200 million connected to the A7A5 stablecoin, which it described as a store of value the A7 network uses to help clients evade sanctions.

Iranian exposure made up another large share. Between May 2021 and May 2026, MEXC sent or received roughly $1 billion in direct transfers with more than 40 identified Iranian crypto exchangers, some of them subject to US and international sanctions, the release said. It also identified about $22 million in transactions for the Central Bank of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Qods Force, which the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States have sanctioned. The bureau described the exchange as a hub for North Korean sanctions evasion, ransomware and scam payments, and Russian and other darknet market activity alongside the Iranian and Russian flows.

FinCEN designated MEXC Global of primary money laundering concern in connection with Russian illicit finance, language the release attached to the $232 million in direct dealings with sanctioned parties. The order bars US financial institutions from any transmittal of funds to or from the exchange. The release also pointed holders of information about sanctions violations to FinCEN's whistleblower incentive program, where awards are available when a tip leads to a successful enforcement action with monetary penalties above $1 million.

Treasury described MEXC as founded in 2018 and processing more than $1 billion in daily transactions as of September 2026, with roughly $5 billion in reserves. The bureau ranked it among the top 20 largest convertible virtual currency exchangers worldwide, offering trading in more than 50 currencies and access to over 3,000 cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets. Despite published anti-money laundering and customer verification policies that prohibit use by people in jurisdictions including Iran and North Korea, the bureau said severe deficiencies in those controls let prohibited transactions continue.

Crypto Briefing reported that violations of the order can draw civil or criminal penalties and that the restrictions do not replace existing obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act or the sanctions the Office of Foreign Assets Control administers. The action is part of Operation Economic Outcast, a Treasury campaign launched in August against financial networks that support Iran's sanctions evasion. Cointelegraph described the campaign as an effort to cut off financial entities that help Iran evade sanctions.

Cointelegraph put MEXC's holdings at about $4.48 billion in total assets as of November 6, citing DefiLlama data. Cointelegraph said it contacted MEXC for comment and had not received a response by publication.