Binance fires investigators of Iran sanctions violations

Binance fired an investigator team that may have uncovered over $1B in flows to sanctioned Iranian wallets. The dismissal of the investigators raised questions about Binance’s readiness to remain compliant with sanctioned regions. 

Binance fired investigators on its internal compliance team after reporting key findings on over $1B received through entities tied to Iran. The discovery was made by multiple sources and internal documents shared with Fortune. 

Binance’s founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao claimed the article held contradictions and was not clear enough on the link between the fired investigators and the discovery of sanctioned transactions.

I don’t know any details or who, but just reading the article, it’s self contradicting 👇.

One could also make a narrative "maybe they were fired because they didn’t prevent it?" IF it were even true. It would also mean the 3rd party tools (the same used by law enforcement)… https://t.co/VzwvKwmAd4 pic.twitter.com/3JSdGGMcsV

— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) February 13, 2026

According to the magazine, the investigators tracked the flows between March 2024 and August 2025, flagging potential violations of sanctions laws. According to Fortune’s sources, the team members were fired at the end of 2025. 

Binance still handled USDT on TRON from sanctioned sources

Despite the listing of Iran as a banned country, there were still transactions routed through Binance. The findings follow a known pattern of crypto usage in Iran, which utilizes USDT on the TRON network. This version of the token is carried by Binance, turning it into a major liquidity hub for TRC-20 stablecoins. 

So far, investigators have tracked USDT as a way to circumvent sanctions, but mostly ended up with idle wallets. The internal investigation points to Binance’s ongoing problems with compliance. In 2023, the exchange pleaded guilty to AML and KYC violations, and the exchange’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, was sentenced to four months in prison. 

Binance agreed to increased government monitoring, widely advertising its new phase of full compliance. 

Why did Binance fire a batch of employees?

According to Fortune, Binance fired at least three investigators with a law enforcement background, focused on the European and Asian markets. 

The information on the dismissals coincides with a previous cut to Binance’s team. As Cryptopolitan reported, toward the end of 2025, Binance dismissed several team members for alleged insider trading. 

Around that time, several Binance team members also announced their departures through LinkedIn, without specifying the circumstances. Beyond the firings in the special investigator team, at least four of the top compliance experts left Binance, or were pushed out, according to Fortune’s information. 

The compliance experts were fired at a time when Binance and Zhao enjoyed peak acceptance for their crypto business, while helping the Trump family World Liberty Fi project and adopting its stablecoin, USD1.

Binance USDT flows slow down 

Binance registered peak USDT flows from the TRON network during the 2021 bull market. Since then, there have been fewer dramatic spikes of inflows. 

In the past year, USDT on TRON was much less active on Binance. The token’s supply is growing, but it still has a niche use compared to the ERC-20 version. 

Binance has also been known to swap TRC-20 USDT for its Ethereum version, potentially swaying the available liquidity in the crypto space. TRC-20 USDT is much more rarely used in lending and DeFi, as well as centralized exchanges, and is linked to usage for P2P payments  in Southeast Asia.