As part of Operation Economic Outcast, the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an order Friday that effectively cuts MEXC Global off from the U.S. financial system.
FinCEN says the Seychelles-based convertible virtual currency exchange — one of the world's top 20 — facilitated at least $16 billion in illicit transactions tied to Iranian, North Korean and Russian sanctions evasion and cybercrime. U.S. banks will be barred from processing funds transfers involving MEXC.
"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. "Treasury will continue to sever the Iranian regime's economic lifelines and thwart its desperate attempts to circumvent U.S. sanctions using digital assets."
Between May 2021 and May 2026, FinCEN said, MEXC moved nearly $1.5 billion linked to Russian sanctions evasion — including $232 million in direct deals with sanctioned entities — and was still processing transactions with sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex and its successor Grinex as recently as June 2026. In the same window it sent or received about $1 billion with more than 40 identified Iranian crypto exchangers and roughly $22 million benefiting Iran's central bank and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Qods Force.
The order, issued under section 9714(a) of the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act, takes effect 30 days after Federal Register publication.
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