US Cuts Crypto Exchange MEXC Off From Financial System Over $16 Billion in Illicit Flows
The United States has moved to cut cryptocurrency exchange MEXC Global off from the American financial system, accusing the platform of channelling at least $16 billion in illicit funds tied to sanctions evasion by Iran, North Korea and Russia, and to cybercrime.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN, issued the order on Friday 6 November as part of Operation Economic Outcast, a Treasury campaign against sanctions evasion through crypto. The order bars American financial institutions from processing any funds transfers involving MEXC, covering both conventional money and convertible virtual currency.
“Financial institutions cannot have it both ways: Either you support the Iranian regime, or you have access to the U.S. financial system,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the Treasury’s announcement.
What the order does
FinCEN named MEXC Global a “primary money laundering concern” in connection with Russian illicit finance, acting under section 9714(a) of the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act. The order, signed by FinCEN Deputy Director Jimmy L. Kirby, prohibits covered US financial institutions from engaging in any transmittal of funds from or to MEXC Global and its named affiliates operating outside the United States.
The ban is not immediate. It takes effect 30 days after the order is published in the Federal Register, a step that had still not happened on the morning of Saturday 7 November, so no date for the ban to bite is fixed yet. The order carries no cessation date, so it stays in force until FinCEN says otherwise.
The action is a funds-transmittal ban, not a sanctions listing. MEXC has not been added to the Treasury’s list of specially designated nationals, no property has been blocked, and the order does not shut the exchange down or tell users to move their balances. Branches, subsidiaries and offices of MEXC located in the United States are expressly excluded from the order’s definition.
A $16 billion trail through Russia and Iran
Between May 2021 and May 2026, MEXC facilitated the movement of at least $16 billion in funds connected to sanctions evasion, cybercrime and other illicit activity, the Treasury said. FinCEN’s own analysis of blockchain and other data puts the figure at $16.7 billion over the same period. The figures are government findings and allegations in an administrative order, not a criminal conviction or a judicial judgment against the exchange.
The breakdown published by the Treasury is unusually specific. Nearly $1.5 billion was linked to Russian sanctions evasion, and $232 million went in direct transactions with sanctioned entities. About $1 billion moved in dealings with more than 40 Iranian exchangers, and about $22 million was linked to Iran’s Central Bank and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Qods Force.
The Treasury also said MEXC kept processing transactions with the sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex and its successor Grinex as recently as June 2026, more than four years after the US designated Garantex.
Part of a wider campaign
Operation Economic Outcast was launched in August to cut off financial entities that help Iran evade sanctions, and the MEXC order is its most sweeping strike yet against crypto infrastructure. On the same day, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned eight money services businesses in Canada that it said enable Iran’s government and other illicit actors to move assets into and out of the country.
The move comes as Washington steps up pressure on Tehran on several fronts. The United States carried out limited strikes on Iranian targets on Friday, and it is also offering a reward of up to $20 million for information on Iran’s nuclear programme. The Treasury’s message to the financial sector was blunt: institutions must choose between the Iranian regime and access to the US financial system.
It also follows a bruising week for crypto. North Korea has denied involvement in the record $6.3 billion Binance hack, while the FBI listed 628 wallets linked to the theft, and Binance reopened withdrawals in phases after the attack.
What happens next
MEXC was founded in 2018 and is incorporated in the Seychelles, where the order says it operates without a virtual asset service provider licence. The Treasury counts it among the 20 largest crypto exchanges in the world: as of September 2026 it processed more than $1 billion in daily transactions and held about $5 billion in reserves, while data provider DeFiLlama put its total assets at about $4.48 billion as of Friday.
MEXC responded overnight, saying its legal and compliance teams were reviewing the order, that operations remained normal and user assets secure, and that it had begun an independent review of its anti-money-laundering and sanctions controls.
The first thing to watch is the Federal Register. Until the order is published there, the 30-day clock has not started, and the effective date cannot be fixed. Reuters also reported the order on Friday afternoon, confirming the Treasury’s central allegation. Once the ban takes effect, US banks and regulated crypto firms will have to block or reject covered transfers involving MEXC, while the exchange itself can keep operating outside the American financial system.
