The order

The US Treasury moved on Friday, 6 November, to cut cryptocurrency exchange MEXC Global off from the American financial system. Its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an order barring US financial institutions from processing money transfers to or from the exchange, after accusing it of facilitating at least $16 billion in transactions linked to sanctions evasion, cybercrime and other illicit activity between May 2021 and May 2026.

What Treasury alleges

Treasury said the flows included about $1.5 billion linked to Russian sanctions evasion, about $1 billion in direct transactions with more than 40 Iranian cryptocurrency exchangers, and about $22 million benefiting the Central Bank of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Qods Force. FinCEN also pointed to activity involving North Korean financial facilitators, ransomware payments, cryptocurrency scams and darknet markets. The order was issued under Section 9714(a) of the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act and takes effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

Part of a wider campaign

The action forms part of Operation Economic Outcast, a Treasury campaign launched in August to cut off financial channels that help Iran evade sanctions. "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. The order targets US banks and payment channels; it does not itself shut MEXC down worldwide or automatically freeze customer assets. MEXC, founded in 2018, processed more than $1 billion in transactions a day as of September and held about $5 billion in reserves, according to Treasury. Cointelegraph said it had contacted MEXC for comment and had not received a response by publication.