The U.S. Treasury Department has moved to cut MEXC Global, one of the world’s 20 largest cryptocurrency exchanges, out of the American financial system. In an order dated November 6, Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) said the Seychelles-incorporated exchange moved $16.7 billion tied to illicit finance between May 2021 and May 2026, including money linked to Russian sanctions evasion, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and a North Korean money launderer.
The order bars U.S. banks and other covered financial institutions from sending funds to or receiving funds from MEXC Global. It takes effect 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register. Treasury announced it under “Operation Economic Outcast,” the name it has given a string of recent actions against networks it says support the Iranian regime.
“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 in the department’s press release.
What FinCEN says it found
The figures below are FinCEN’s own assessments, drawn from its analysis of blockchain data. They have not been tested in court.
- Russia: nearly $1.5 billion in direct and indirect exposure to Russian sanctions evasion, including $232 million in direct transactions with entities sanctioned by the United States, the European Union or the United Kingdom. FinCEN says MEXC was still transacting with the sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex and its successor, Grinex, as recently as June 2026, more than four years after Treasury designated Garantex in April 2022. It also cites about $26 million benefiting the sanctioned A7 network and almost $200 million tied to the A7A5 stablecoin, which Treasury calls a store of value the network uses to help clients evade sanctions.
- Iran: nearly $2 billion connected to identified Iranian actors or known or suspected terrorist groups, including about $1.87 billion with exposure to Iran. FinCEN says more than $1 billion of that was direct business with more than 40 identified Iranian crypto exchanges, even though MEXC’s own user agreement bars people in Iran. About $22 million was associated with the Central Bank of Iran and the IRGC and its Quds Force.
- Hamas: about $36 million in transactions related to Hamas’s armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, and other Iran-linked terrorist groups.
- North Korea: about $350,000 received by sanctioned North Korean money launderer Sim Hyon Sop between June and September 2025. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had designated him in April 2023 and listed his crypto addresses in that designation.
- Cybercrime: at least $1.99 billion moving to or from illicit cyber actors, and more than $37.9 million in suspected ransomware payments received between January 2022 and July 2024.
According to the order, MEXC was founded in 2018, operates in more than 170 countries and, as of June 2026, processed more than $1 billion a day while holding about $5 billion in reserves. The order reaches the exchange’s affiliates as well, naming MEXC Global Ltd and MX Global Ltd in the Seychelles, MEXC Estonia OÜ, GIDA Technology AG in Switzerland, MXC Global Ltd in the United Kingdom and two former Singapore entities.
A track record of unlicensed operation
FinCEN’s order notes that regulators in the Seychelles, Hong Kong and Japan have all found MEXC operating without a license. The Financial Services Authority of Seychelles, in a release the order dates to May 26, 2026, said it had identified MX Global Ltd as the company running the MEXC platform. The regulator said the company had never held a license to provide virtual asset services and had been in breach of Seychelles’ Virtual Asset Service Providers Act since January 1, 2025. It told the public it could not help recover funds lost on the platform.
What complicates the picture
The legal hook is Russia, not Iran. Treasury’s announcement led with the Iranian regime, but the order itself rests on section 9714(a) of the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act. Its formal finding is that MEXC is “of primary money laundering concern in connection with Russian illicit finance.” The Iran, Hamas and North Korea figures appear as supporting evidence of a wider pattern.
Treasury’s own numbers are not perfectly consistent. The press release says “at least $16 billion” in illicit transactions and dates the $1 billion-a-day volume figure to September 2026. The order says $16.7 billion and dates the volume figure to June 2026. Much of the money is also described as “exposure,” a blockchain-analysis term that can cover indirect links, not only direct dealings with a sanctioned party. The order counts direct and indirect exposure together in some totals, including the $1.5 billion Russia figure.
This is an administrative order, not a criminal charge. MEXC has not been convicted of anything. In a November 7 statement posted on X and quoted by the crypto news outlet ForkLog, the exchange said it was “reviewing it closely in coordination with our legal and compliance teams” and that “MEXC is operating normally, and user assets remain secure.” It added: “We take the concerns raised seriously and intend to engage constructively with FinCEN, as well as other relevant regulators and competent authorities worldwide. We have also begun an independent review of our AML [anti-money laundering] and sanctions controls.”
Analysis (not established fact): The order shuts MEXC out of U.S. banks, but it does not close the exchange. How much it hurts will depend on how much of MEXC’s dollar and stablecoin business passes through U.S. institutions, and the order does not put a number on that. Garantex shows the limits of such measures: by FinCEN’s own account, it and its successor, Grinex, were still doing business with MEXC in June 2026, four years after Garantex was sanctioned.
The order is one of several Treasury actions in a single week aimed at Iran’s financial lifelines. Those included the November 6 sanctions on eight Canadian money services businesses, which Right Side News reported on November 8.
Sources
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, “Operation Economic Outcast Severs MEXC Global’s Access to the U.S. Financial System,” Nov. 6, 2026: home.treasury.gov
- FinCEN, news release on MEXC Global: fincen.gov
- FinCEN, Section 9714 order on MEXC Global (PDF): fincen.gov
- Financial Services Authority of Seychelles, “FSA Takes Enforcement Action Against MX Global Ltd for Unlicensed Virtual Asset Services Operations”: fsaseychelles.sc
- ForkLog, “US to Restrict Transfers with MEXC Over $16.7 Billion in Illegal Activities,” Nov. 7, 2026 (MEXC’s statement): forklog.com
- Decrypt, “Treasury Cuts Crypto Exchange MEXC Off From US Financial System”: decrypt.co
Featured image: The U.S. Treasury Department building in Washington. Photo: *rboed* via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.
How this article was made: Right Side News researched and drafted this article with the help of AI tools. Sources are linked so readers can check them. Spot an error? Tell us in the comments and we will correct it.
