The US Treasury moved on Friday to cut cryptocurrency exchange MEXC Global off from the American financial system, accusing the platform of facilitating at least $16 billion in illicit transactions tied to sanctions evasion and cybercrime.
The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an order under section 9714(a) of the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act, naming MEXC a “primary money laundering concern in connection with Russian illicit finance”. The order bars US financial institutions from processing any transfer of funds — including cryptocurrency — to or from the exchange. It takes effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, a step that had still not happened by Saturday morning, so no date has yet been fixed for the ban to bite.
Between May 2021 and May 2026, FinCEN says MEXC moved at least $16 billion in funds connected to sanctions evasion, cybercrime and other illicit activity. That includes nearly $1.5 billion linked to Russian sanctions evasion, about $1 billion in direct dealings with more than 40 Iranian exchanges, and about $22 million linked to Iran’s central bank and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Qods Force. 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 by the US.
MEXC was founded in 2018 and is incorporated in the Seychelles, where it holds no virtual asset service provider licence, according to FinCEN. As of September 2026 it processed more than $1 billion in daily transactions and held about $5 billion in reserves, offering access to more than 3,000 cryptocurrencies. FinCEN counts it among the world’s 20 largest crypto exchanges by volume.
“Financial institutions cannot have it both ways: Either you support the Iranian regime, or you have access to the US financial system,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the announcement.
The order is not a sanctions designation: MEXC has not been added to the US list of specially designated nationals, no property has been blocked, and the order does not freeze customer assets or shut the exchange down. MEXC said it is operating normally and that its legal and compliance teams are reviewing the order, with user withdrawals continuing without interruption. The figures in this article are the Treasury’s allegations; the exchange has not been found liable in court.
On the same day, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control separately designated eight Canadian money services businesses it says enable Iranian financial networks. Both actions fall under Operation Economic Outcast, a Treasury campaign launched in August against sanctions evasion through crypto. FinCEN has used the same section 9714 power before, against the exchanges Bitzlato in 2023 and PM2BTC in 2024, but MEXC is by far the largest target. The action also comes a week after hackers drained $6.3 billion from Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, in the biggest crypto heist on record.
Sources: US Treasury press release; Reuters; crypto.news
