Crypto News: MEXC Cut Off by Treasury as Binance Hack Raises Concerns

The crypto industry faced two major developments Friday as the US Treasury moved to sever cryptocurrency exchange MEXC Global from the US financial system and Binance faced renewed scrutiny over a reported $6.3 billion security incident.

Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network alleged that MEXC facilitated at least $16 billion in transactions linked to sanctions evasion, cybercrime and other illicit activity between May 2021 and May 2026. The agency said the activity involved sanctioned groups in Iran, Russia and North Korea, including approximately $1.5 billion tied to Russian sanctions evasion. The order will take effect 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register and prohibits US financial institutions from processing transfers involving MEXC. According to DefiLlama, the exchange held about $4.48 billion in assets as of Friday. MEXC had not responded to CoinTelegraph before publication.

The action forms part of Treasury’s Operation Economic Outcast, a campaign targeting entities that allegedly help Iran evade sanctions. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US government would continue to disrupt Iran’s economic links and prevent the use of digital assets to circumvent American restrictions.

Binance’s reported $6.3 billion hack has also raised questions about the controls protecting exchange hot wallets. Co-CEO Richard Teng said on October 30 that the attack affected Binance’s own hot wallet, while most customer assets remained in offline cold storage and were transferred to hot wallets only when users requested withdrawals. Other exchanges are disclosing cold-storage reserves to reassure customers, but blockchain records alone cannot show how exchanges govern internal wallet transfers or limit attackers’ access.