US Treasury cuts crypto exchange MEXC Global off from US financial system

The US Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued an order cutting crypto exchange MEXC Global off from the US financial system. Citing Decrypt, the agency accuses the platform of facilitating at least $16 billion in illicit transactions tied to Iran, North Korea and Russia. The order was issued on Friday and is part of a broader campaign called Operation Economic Outcast.

What the order prohibits

The order bars US financial institutions from processing any funds transfers to or from MEXC. It takes effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. As Decrypt notes, Treasury used not a standard sanctions designation but a provision of the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act. FinCEN has increasingly relied on this tool to cut off crypto infrastructure that operates outside the correspondent banking system.

Why FinCEN considers MEXC a problem

According to FinCEN, the exchange was founded in 2018, processes more than $1 billion in daily transactions, holds around $5 billion in reserves and offersОфферAn offer is an advertiser's proposal to partners: the product together with payout terms, geos, and traffic requirements, for which the partner receives a reward. more than 3,000 tokens. Between May 2021 and May 2026, at least $16 billion linked to illicit activity moved through the platform, including nearly $1.5 billion tied to Russian sanctions evasion. Direct transactions with sanctioned entities totaledТоталTotal is a bet on the total number of points, goals, games or other events in a match relative to the bookmaker's line: over or under. $232 million. The agency named MEXC a primary money laundering concern in connection with Russian illicit finance.

FinCEN states that, despite public claims of anti-money-laundering controls and of blocking users from Iran and North Korea, the exchange's complianceКомплаенсCompliance — adherence to laws, regulatory requirements and internal company rules: customer verification, anti-money laundering, data protection and advertising restrictions. has 'severe deficiencies'. According to the agency, MEXC was still transacting with the sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex and its successor Grinex as recently as June 2026, although Garantex was first placed on sanctions lists more than four years earlier. The platform also processed around $200 million linked to the A7A5 stablecoinСтейблкоинA stablecoin is a crypto asset whose price is pegged to a fiat currency (most often the US dollar) and maintained by reserves or an algorithm. and about $22 million benefiting Iran's central bank and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Links to other sanctions actions

The order fits into a series of measures against sanctioned infrastructure. As Decrypt reports, last month Treasury designated Russia's A7 Network a transnational criminal organization and proposed cutting its front companies off from US finance. The department cited more than $179 billion in transactions through the ruble-backed A7A5 token, much of it routed through Garantex and Grinex.

In Iran, the campaign has reached the crypto sector: Treasury received broad authority to sanction anyone operating in it, and the Iranian exchange Nobitex was blacklisted for its role in channeling cryptocurrency to the IRGC.