Senator Richard Blumenthal stepped up his scrutiny of Binance, sending a follow-up letter on April 1 to co-CEO Richard Teng, which presses the cryptocurrency exchange to explain apparent discrepancies between its testimony to the Senate and subsequent media reports reporting on Iran-related transactions.
The New Haven Democrat raised concerns that Binance may have provided the Subcommittee and the public with “false statements or misleading information” and demanded documents and records the company relied on in preparing its earlier responses.
Senate probe seeks portfolios, deals and answers
Blumenthal letter comes after reports by Fortune and The New York Times showed approximately $1.7 billion in flows from Binance-linked accounts to Iran-linked entities, a much larger total than the $110,000 figure reported by Binance last year for direct transactions with four major Iranian exchanges.
The senator said this loophole, combined with Binance’s partial or delayed production of materials requested by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), raised “further alarms about its sincerity and compliance with congressional oversight.”
Blumenthal’s letter includes a long list of specific questions and records requests. He asked Binance to disclose whether any accounts sent or received funds to or from the set Wallets linked to Iran referred to in the reports, and to provide wallet addresses.
He demanded a full year-over-year accounting of transactions between Binance and prominent Iranian exchanges and asked for an explanation of the methodology used to calculate the $110,000 amount, including whether it counted transfers that were later linked to Iranian exchanges.
Blumenthal also pressed the cryptocurrency exchange on its internal compliance practices. He asked whether Binance has removed, weakened or relaxed any detection, screening, freezing or reporting mechanisms since January 1, 2025, including tools designed to detect illegal indirect transfers.
He asked for clarity on whether Binance has ever refused to investigate, suspend or delete accounts associated with individuals in Iran – including those using VPNs or “dropped accounts” (KYC-verified accounts that are bought, shared or stolen).
In this regard, he asked whether Binance has ever disciplined compliance officers who raised concerns internally or provided information to law enforcement or external partners, noting reports that Binance released staff for “unauthorized disclosure.”
Binance Date given: April 14
The senator further criticized what he described as Binance’s delayed or inappropriate action in responding to law enforcement warnings. He said it took Binance two months to respond to law enforcement regarding the alleged incidents terrorism financing by entities such as Hexa Whale and another two months to remove the associated shell entity.
He also alleged that it took Binance at least five months to remove Blessed Trust as a supplier after receiving a warning about its role in suspected terrorism financing.
Blumenthal wrote that in some cases Binance appeared to have a label some accounts with internal tags such as “Do not block. Internal accounts,” which he said should have signaled a need for increased scrutiny rather than protection from law enforcement.
He asked for precise dates indicating when the companies and individuals involved opened Binance accounts, began sending funds to Iranian intermediaries, were reported to US law enforcement, and when they were suspended or removed.
The senator also demanded an explanation for delays between receiving notification and taking action. Blumenthal invoked Senate regulations and gave Binance until April 14 this year to submit the records.
Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
