US Treasury Orders MEXC Cut Off From US Financial System Over Alleged $16B in Illicit Transactions
Key Takeaways
- •The US Treasury's FinCEN accused MEXC Global of facilitating at least $16 billion in transactions linked to sanctions evasion, cybercrime, and other illicit activity.
- •The alleged illicit transactions involved sanctioned groups in Iran, Russia, and North Korea between May 2021 and May 2026, with around $1.5 billion tied to Russian sanctions evasion.
- •US financial institutions are effectively barred from processing money transfers involving MEXC, with the restriction taking effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
- •The action is part of Operation Economic Outcast, Treasury campaign launched in August to cut off entities helping Iran evade sanctions, and marks its extension into the cryptocurrency sector.
- •MEXC held approximately $4.48 billion in total assets as of Friday according to DefiLlama, and the exchange had not responded to a request for comment by publication.
The US Department of the Treasury on Friday issued an order to cut cryptocurrency exchange MEXC Global off from the US financial system, accusing the platform of facilitating at least $16 billion in transactions linked to sanctions evasion, cybercrime and other illicit activity.
The Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the bureau charged with safeguarding the US financial system from illicit use and enforcing federal anti-money-laundering rules, asserted that MEXC handled transactions involving sanctioned groups in Iran, Russia and North Korea between May 2021 and May 2026. Around $1.5 billion of that volume was tied to Russian sanctions evasion, according to the official press release.
Under the order, US financial institutions are effectively barred from processing money transfers involving MEXC. Because dollar-denominated transfers generally clear through the US banking system, the restriction is designed to cut the exchange off from those channels. The measure is set to take effect 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register.
"Financial institutions cannot have it both ways: Either you support the Iranian regime, or you have access to the U.S. financial system," said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. "Treasury will continue to sever the Iranian regime's economic lifelines and thwart its desperate attempts to circumvent U.S. sanctions using digital assets."
The action is part of Operation Economic Outcast, a Treasury campaign launched in August that aims to cut off financial entities found to be helping Iran evade sanctions. The move against MEXC extends the campaign's reach to the cryptocurrency sector.
According to DefiLlama, an on-chain analytics platform that tracks cryptocurrency holdings across exchanges, MEXC held about $4.48 billion in total assets as of Friday, a figure that gives a sense of the asset base on the platform as the 30-day implementation window gets underway.
MEXC is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2018. Cointelegraph contacted MEXC for comment but had not received a response by publication. The precise effective date of the order hinges on its publication in the Federal Register, and any public response from MEXC before the restriction takes effect remains a key development to watch.
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This article was originally published by Cointelegraph: US Treasury Blocks MEXC Over Alleged $16B in Illicit Transactions.
