Binance and Iran Allegations: CZ Denies Any Motive as U.S. Scrutiny Returns
binance is again at the center of accusations tied to Iran and potential terrorism financing, but its former chief executive Changpeng “CZ” Zhao used a public appearance this week to reject the premise outright and argue the alleged transactions would make no business sense.
What exactly did CZ deny about Binance and Iran-related accusations?
Speaking in a video appearance at the Digital Chamber’s DC Blockchain Summit on Wednesday (ET), Zhao said he had “zero interest” in enabling transactions connected to terrorism financing in Iran. He framed the idea as incompatible with his personal circumstances, adding that he lives in a country “being attacked by Iran, ” and said he had no interest “even before that. ”
Zhao also pointed to civil lawsuits that had accused Binance of acting as a conduit for terrorism financing and said those cases were recently dismissed in U. S. courts. In his remarks, he described the broader set of claims as false, calling them “false, baseless information. ”
Zhao, the founder and former chief executive of the exchange, previously agreed to leave the company under a criminal settlement with the U. S. He had served a prison sentence and received a pardon from President Donald Trump, as described in the context of his public comments.
Why is Binance disputing claims about compliance personnel and suspicious transfers?
The renewed dispute is unfolding alongside a legal fight. Binance sued the last week after it published an account stating the company fired compliance personnel who had flagged suspicious transactions that may have violated sanctions. The same account stated that internal investigators flagged more than $1 billion in crypto transfers from Chinese clients into wallets linked to Iranian financing networks.
Against that backdrop, Zhao argued there was no business attraction for Binance to become involved in Iran-tied transactions. He said those transactions in question do not generate fees, and he emphasized a simple point: “There’s no benefit. ”
Separately, Binance has asserted it could not find evidence that accounts on its platforms transacted directly with Iranian entities. That assertion sits at the core of the company’s effort to rebut implications that activity on its platform directly connected to Iran.
How do these allegations fit into Binance’s past U. S. settlement?
The current round of accusations arrives after Binance settled U. S. anti-money-laundering and sanctions-violation accusations in 2023. The context for Zhao’s comments makes clear he is seeking to distance both himself and his former company from allegations that the platform enabled terrorism financing linked to Iran, while also challenging the factual basis of claims circulating around compliance warnings and transaction flows.
At the same time, the company’s position and Zhao’s remarks point in different directions of defense: Binance says it could not find evidence of direct transactions with Iranian entities, while Zhao emphasizes a lack of motive—claiming Iran-linked transactions would not provide fee revenue and therefore would not be attractive for the firm.
The dispute is also personal for Zhao. In the same appearance, he said he has been targeted by false accusations and portrayed the criticism as an attack built on information he rejects as unfounded.
