The US Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ordered American financial institutions on Friday to stop processing funds transfers involving MEXC Global, saying the Seychelles-incorporated exchange facilitated at least $16 billion in illicit transactions tied to Iran, North Korea and Russia between May 2021 and May 2026. Treasury announced the order as part of Operation Economic Outcast in a press release , and published the order itself .
MEXC said it is reviewing the order closely with its legal and compliance teams, Coinpedia reported .
FinCEN describes MEXC as one of the 20 largest crypto exchanges, with more than $1 billion in daily transactions, about $5 billion in reserves as of September and more than 3,000 listed tokens. It says MEXC publicly claimed anti-money-laundering controls and barred users in countries such as Iran and North Korea, but had "severe deficiencies" in those controls.
Treasury's figures include nearly $1.5 billion linked to Russian sanctions evasion, including $232 million in direct transactions with US-, EU- and UK-sanctioned entities. It says MEXC was still processing transactions with the sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex and its successor Grinex as recently as June 2026, more than four years after Garantex was designated. In the same period, Treasury says, MEXC handled about $22 million for the sanctioned Central Bank of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Qods Force. Further figures summarized by CoinCourier include roughly $1 billion in direct transactions with more than 40 Iranian crypto exchangers and nearly $200 million linked to the A7A5 stablecoin.
The order is made under section 9714(a) of the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act. It bars covered US financial institutions from transmitting funds to or from MEXC Global and carries civil and criminal penalties for violations. It is not an OFAC sanction: MEXC is not added to the Specially Designated Nationals list, no property is blocked, and users are not told to move balances. OFAC's Iran-related designations on the same day did not name MEXC, a regulatory tracker noted .
The ban takes effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register (this has not happened yet) and has no end date. As section 9714 can be used only against foreign institutions tied to Russian illicit finance, the order formally rests on MEXC's alleged Russian dealings, Northeast Times reported , even though Treasury's announcement names Iran, North Korea and Russia together.
Treasury has worked through Iran's crypto channels for months. In August, it sanctioned two more Iran-linked exchanges , and our coverage noted that Binance restricted Shelbit and Aban Tether the same day as the US action, a pattern of exchanges mirroring sanctions lists. In October, we reported that US exchanges were still sending funds to sanctioned Iranian exchanges , and that Tether said Iran-linked stablecoin volumes fell 94% .
The tool is different this time. FinCEN has used its own authority to cut an offshore exchange off from US banks rather than add it to the sanctions list, which leaves its non-US business untouched.
FinCEN made a second announcement on Friday that pointed the other way. It and the Federal Reserve withdrew a 2020 proposal to lower the recordkeeping and travel rule threshold for cross-border transfers from $3,000 to $250, FinCEN said . The existing $3,000 threshold stays in force. FinCEN said any future changes should reflect developments since the proposal was made.
The key date is publication of the order in the Federal Register, which starts the 30-day clock. Banks and payment firms that handle MEXC-related flows will need to decide how to screen for them before then. MEXC's response, and whether other regulators outside the US move against the exchange, will show how far the order's reach extends.
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