The US Treasury has ordered crypto exchange MEXC banned from the US financial system over its handling of at least $16 billion in illicit funds. According to Treasury, MEXC processed that sum — tied to Iranian, North Korean and Russian sanctions evasion and cybercrime — between May 2021 and May 2026.

Once the order takes effect, US financial institutions will be barred from moving any funds to or from the exchange. Treasury links nearly $1.5 billion to Russian sanctions evasion, about $1 billion to Iran and more than 40 Iranian crypto exchanges, and describes MEXC as a hub for North Korean sanctions evasion. The exchange also moved roughly $22 million for Iran's central bank, the Revolutionary Guard and its Qods Force. Although MEXC's own rules ban users in Iran and North Korea, Treasury says weak anti-money laundering controls let them through, and the exchange was still trading with sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex as recently as June 2026 — more than four years after the US blacklisted it. "Either you support the Iranian regime, or you have access to the U.S. financial system," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.