A top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security committee opened an inquiry on Tuesday into concerns about possible sanctions violations raised by internal investigators at Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Citing reports in The New York Times and two other outlets, Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said he was examining the flow of $1.7 billion in crypto from Binance accounts to entities tied to Iran. In a letter to Binance’s co-chief executive Richard Teng, Mr. Blumenthal asked for records about the company’s dealings with two Hong Kong entities identified by the exchange’s investigators as the origin of the transfers to Iran.
“Binance appears to have ignored warnings and recommendations to prevent Iranian money laundering schemes on its cryptocurrency exchange,” Mr. Blumenthal wrote.
In 2023, Binance pleaded guilty to violating anti-money-laundering laws and allowing customers in countries under sanctions, including Iran, to transact on the platform, where people can convert traditional currencies into digital coins. The company agreed to pay $4.3 billion in penalties and leave the U.S. market. Its founder, Changpeng Zhao, served four months in prison for his role in the crimes.