On November 6, FinCEN banned US banks from any transfers with the MEXC Global crypto exchange. The regulator called the platform a primary source of money laundering threat. The claims cover $16 billion in transactions over five years.
FinCEN is a division of the US Treasury that monitors financial crimes. Its ban does not directly seize funds. It simply closes the exchange's access to American banks, and therefore to dollar settlements.
Why this matters for a trader. A platform where money is held and positions are open becomes toxic for banks overnight.
What did the regulator find?
According to FinCEN, from May 2021 to May 2026, at least $16 billion in illicit transactions passed through MEXC. The breakdown of claims is as follows:
- $1.5 billion - circumvention of Russian sanctions
- $232 million - direct transactions with sanctioned entities
- about $200 million - transactions with the stablecoin A7A5, a coin whose rate is pegged to the ruble
- about $22 million - payments to the Central Bank of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Separately, the regulator notes that MEXC worked with sanctioned Russian platforms Garantex and its successor Grinex as late as June 2026. "Serious deficiencies" were found in its anti-money laundering system.
What kind of exchange is under fire?
MEXC is a major player, not a small platform. The exchange was founded in 2018 and is among the top 20 crypto exchanges in the world.
- Turnover. More than $1 billion in transactions per day.
- Reserves. About $5 billion.
- Listing. Access to more than 3,000 tokens.
- The exchange's own position. Publicly, MEXC has stated that it does not serve users from Iran and North Korea.
When will the ban take effect?
The deadline is 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. The Combating Russian Money Laundering Act provision was applied, rather than a standard sanctions designation.
MEXC has stated that withdrawals are continuing. The exchange has begun an independent review of its procedures.
The main point: clients have a month to decide. If you hold funds on MEXC, treat this deadline as a deadline, not a reason to wait for news.
What does the Treasury say?
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that one cannot simultaneously support the Iranian regime and retain access to the US financial system.
This is not the first step. A month earlier, the Treasury designated the Russian A7 network as a transnational criminal organization.
- more than $179 billion - the volume of transactions through the A7A5 token, according to the agency's estimate
- Nobitex - an Iranian exchange added to the blacklist
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Have you held funds on this exchange?
News like this breaks not your strategy, but your infrastructure. A platform where your money is held and positions are open becomes toxic for banks overnight. You spend the evening withdrawing instead of trading. In prop trading, the company sets the nominal for the trade, and it also chooses the platform and its licenses - you pay for the selection, stay within loss limits, and receive an agreed share of the profit. Seeing how this scheme works is cheaper than the next order like this.