Crypto news

The cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx categorically denies recent allegations that it allegedly became one of the main channels for funneling Iranian funds in circumvention of U.S. sanctions. According to an independent investigation, Iranian transactions totaling $3.84 billion have passed through the platform and related structures over the past seven years. However, the exchange insists these figures are the result of ordinary user activity, not state-level sanctions schemes.

CoinEx emphasizes that it has never maintained commercial relationships with Iranian state structures or local trading platforms. Moreover, Iranian authorities blacklisted the exchange back in 2021, and the official domain was blocked in the country. According to the company, this fact completely refutes its role as Iran's official financial channel. The exchange also stated that it did not open offices in Iran or hire employees to develop business in the region. The referral program, they claim, was promoted by individual users without the company's involvement.

"We categorically reject any allegations that conflate ordinary user activity with state-level sanctions evasion," reads the official statement from CoinEx.

Investigation Details: $3.84 Billion and 6.2 Million Transfers

According to data from the analytics firm TRM Labs, the main flow of funds passed between CoinEx and the largest Iranian exchange, Nobitex. Since November 2018, over $2.7 billion has been moved between the platforms in 6.2 million transfers, averaging approximately $1 million per day. By 2025, CoinEx accounted for about 16% of Nobitex's turnover, outpacing the next largest external counterparty by nearly nine times. Notably, Nobitex sent $360 million more to CoinEx than it received back, indicating an outflow of cryptocurrency from Iran to the global market.

Interestingly, CoinEx took this position after Binance, previously the main external counterparty for Nobitex, was fined by the U.S. in 2023 for servicing Iranian clients. By 2024, CoinEx had become the dominant channel. The investigation also points to the involvement of the mining pool ViaBTC, which transferred over $154 million to Nobitex wallets as mining payouts. After the attack on Nobitex in 2025, the pool helped the exchange restore liquidity by transferring about $2.7 million to a new hot wallet.

Complex Scheme Involving the Central Bank of Iran and the Bybit Hack

A separate episode concerns the Central Bank of Iran. According to TRM Labs data, from June 2025 to June 2026, approximately $67 million of the regulator's funds passed through a multi-step money laundering scheme along a chain of addresses and ultimately ended up on CoinEx. Analysts linked this money to the $1.5 billion in assets stolen during the Bybit hack, attributed to North Korean hackers. CoinEx, for its part, stated that it helped Bybit block the account and freeze assets immediately after the incident, and also promised to conduct an internal review.

Following the imposition of U.S. sanctions against Iranian exchanges on June 2, 2026, the volume of transactions between CoinEx and Iranian platforms dropped sharply — below $150,000. However, analysts note that they cannot yet determine whether new channels for evading monitoring have emerged.

Expert Opinion from Cryptalist: This situation is a vivid example of how global sanctions regimes clash with the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies. CoinEx, like Binance before it, found itself at the epicenter of the conflict between the need to comply with international law and the realities of the peer-to-peer economy. Despite the drop in volumes after the sanctions, the question of how effective such measures are in the long term remains open. The cryptocurrency market still provides opportunities for circumventing restrictions, and this requires exchanges not only to have formal compliance but also to conduct deep analysis of transaction chains.