Original report published November 7, 2026, at 05:06:03 UTC+8. The following reflects the reporting and regulatory action described at that time.
The U.S. Treasury Department issued an order to cut crypto exchange MEXC Global off from the American financial system, alleging that it facilitated at least $16 billion in illicit transactions between May 2021 and May 2026 tied to Iran, North Korea and Russia.
Issued Friday through the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, the order bars U.S. financial institutions from processing funds transfers to or from MEXC. It takes effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, rather than immediately upon announcement.
The action forms part of Treasury’s broader campaign called Operation Economic Outcast.
A large exchange faces restrictions on financial access
According to FinCEN, MEXC was founded in 2018, processes more than $1 billion in daily transactions, holds around $5 billion in reserves and offers more than 3,000 tokens. The original report described it as one of the world’s 20 largest crypto exchanges.
Those figures describe the platform’s scale, not growth in its user base or evidence of sustained adoption. The report supplied no user counts, retention data or comparable activity figures showing how usage changed over time.
FinCEN designated MEXC a “primary money laundering concern” in connection with Russian illicit finance. Despite the exchange’s public claims of anti-money-laundering controls and restrictions on users in jurisdictions including Iran and North Korea, the agency alleged “severe deficiencies” in its compliance.
What FinCEN alleged
Within the five-year period covered by its findings, FinCEN identified nearly $1.5 billion tied to Russian sanctions evasion, including $232 million in direct transactions with sanctioned entities.
The agency also said MEXC:
- Continued transacting with sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex and its successor Grinex as recently as June 2026, more than four years after Garantex was first designated.
- Processed roughly $200 million linked to the A7A5 stablecoin.
- Processed about $22 million benefiting Iran’s central bank and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.
These figures are attributed to FinCEN; the report did not establish that they were separate, non-overlapping amounts that could be added together.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the action as a choice between supporting Iran’s regime and maintaining access to U.S. finance, pledging to continue severing the regime’s “economic lifelines” and efforts to evade sanctions through digital assets.
Part of a wider sanctions-evasion campaign
The report placed the MEXC order alongside other Treasury actions against crypto-linked financial networks.
In the month preceding the report, Treasury designated Russia’s A7 Network a transnational criminal organization and proposed cutting its front companies off from U.S. finance. It flagged more than $179 billion in transactions through the ruble-backed A7A5 token, much of it routed through Garantex and Grinex. That broader network figure should not be confused with the amount FinCEN linked specifically to MEXC.
The campaign also extended to Iran’s crypto sector. Treasury gained broad authority to sanction operators in that sector and blacklisted Iranian exchange Nobitex over its role in funneling crypto to the IRGC.
The MEXC order used a provision of the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act, rather than a standard sanctions designation. According to the report, FinCEN has increasingly used that tool to restrict crypto infrastructure operating outside the correspondent banking system.
For assessing crypto adoption, the distinction is important: transaction volume and token availability show activity and market reach, but do not establish compliant or durable use. The reported action concerns MEXC’s access to U.S. financial institutions; the source did not quantify its eventual effect on users, trading activity or reserves.
