Binance Skirts U.S. Sanctions By Taking Iranian Customers

In 2018, U.S. officials imposed sanctions on Iranian crypto traders.

These sanctions, aimed at hobbling exchange-traded activity and crypto investments in the Persian nation, apparently, did little in the way of curbing crypto activity…

According to a recent report from Reuters, Iranian citizens continued to trade regularly on the Binance exchange through 2021 in spite of the U.S. sanctions.

Sources claim that Iranian activity was so pervasive on the platform that Binance staff had running jokes and affectionately referred to Iranian users as ‘Iran boys’.

Much of the activity allegedly took place via VPNs, and Reuters did not find cases of sanctioned individuals in Iran using Binance. Here’s what we currently know:

In 2018, US reimposed sanctions that had been suspended three years earlier as part of Iran's nuclear deal with major world powers. That November, Binance informed traders in Iran it would no longer serve them, telling them to liquidate their accounts. https://t.co/GIGkKpbsse

— Dr. Ikramul Haq (@DrIkramulHaq) July 11, 2022

It seems to suck, according to Reuters now. 😂

— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) July 11, 2022

Gizmodo writes via MSN News:

Reuters also mentioned they found another 11 people in Iran other than those interviewed who on their LinkedIn profiles declared they traded crypto on Binance.

Reuters did not find evidence of any specific individuals who have been sanctioned in Iran using Binance. Still, Iranian crypto traders quoted by Reuters said that while there were other alternatives, “none of them were as good as Binance.”

 

Binance skirts U.S. sanctions on Iran, but should crypto exchanges be taking cues from U.S. officials in the first place?#Binance #Bitcoin #Iran https://t.co/Jgx3fnaGAI

— Vince Quill (@VinceQuill) July 11, 2022

This has nothing to do with #SHIB but it's important that you read this and form your own opinion on crypto platforms, all centralized…

Exclusive: Binance served crypto traders in Iran despite U.S. sanctions, clients say https://t.co/ACPks9atmJ

— Enzo Beauvais (@IIGODZILLAIIOFF) July 11, 2022

Protos notes:

What’s more, top ranking employees were reportedly aware of the sanction-skirting — even bragging about Binance’s popularity in Iran over Telegram messages.

Join the conversation!

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.