The U.S. Treasury Department has ordered cryptocurrency exchange MEXC Global to be severed from the American financial system after identifying at least $16 billion in transactions tied to sanctions evasion, cybercrime, and illicit financial networks. The action, issued on November 6 through the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), prohibits covered U.S. financial institutions from transmitting funds to or from the exchange once the order takes effect.
FinCEN's findings describe "severe deficiencies" in MEXC's anti-money laundering controls. Between May 2021 and May 2026, the platform allegedly processed transactions involving sanctioned Russian and Iranian networks, North Korean illicit finance, and other criminal activity. The Russian connections are central to the enforcement action: Treasury identified transactions involving Garantex (sanctioned in April 2022) and its successor Grinex, with activity continuing as recently as June 2026. The findings also reference the A7 sanctions-evasion network and A7A5, a ruble-backed stablecoin associated with cross-border settlement outside conventional banking channels.
According to Treasury data, MEXC's Russian-linked activity included approximately $1.5 billion in sanctions-evasion exposure, including $232 million in direct transfers with sanctioned entities and roughly $200 million in A7A5 stablecoin transactions. Iranian-linked activity totaled about $1 billion in transactions with Iranian exchanges, with $22 million benefiting state-linked entities. North Korean sanctions-evasion exposure was also identified, though no separate total was included in the breakdown.
"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 a statement, vowing to keep severing the regime's economic lifelines and its attempts to use digital assets to dodge sanctions.
The order invokes Section 9714(a) of the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act, which authorizes restrictions on fund transfers associated with Russian illicit finance. This differs from an Office of Foreign Assets Control designation that blocks property belonging to a sanctioned person. The prohibition becomes effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, though commercial effects could emerge sooner as banks, payment processors, and institutional trading firms review their relationships with the exchange. The action is part of a broader Treasury campaign dubbed Operation Economic Outcast, which last month designated Russia's A7 Network a transnational criminal organization and blacklisted Iranian exchange Nobitex.
Founded in 2018, MEXC processes more than $1 billion in daily transactions, holds around $5 billion in reserves, and offers more than 3,000 tokens, according to FinCEN. For customers outside the United States, the order does not automatically establish that trading access will disappear, but availability depends on local regulations and the decisions of MEXC's service providers.
