FinCEN cuts MEXC Global off from US banks, citing $16bn tied to sanctions evasion

The order FinCEN issued against MEXC Global on 6 November is the agency's first crypto enforcement action of 2026. By this date in 2025 it had taken two, and three across the whole year. The $16bn FinCEN attaches to the exchange is the largest figure stated in any of the five sanctions evasion actions that have carried a dollar amount since January 2024.

FinCEN is the US Treasury's financial intelligence and anti-money-laundering unit. Its order prevents US financial institutions from processing funds transfers involving MEXC Global, which the agency says has the effect of cutting the exchange off from the US financial system. The action is part of what Treasury calls Operation Economic Outcast.

FinCEN describes MEXC Global as a convertible virtual currency exchanger. It says the exchange has facilitated "at least $16 billion in illicit transactions" connected to Iranian, North Korean and Russian sanctions evasion, as well as cybercrime. FinCEN says this included "transacting directly with sanctioned actors."

Part of a run of sanctions cases

On the same day, OFAC, the Treasury office that administers sanctions, designated eight Canadian money services businesses for enabling the Iranian regime. Several of the designations listed TRON crypto addresses. In late October OFAC sanctioned facilitators of North Korean IT worker fraud and listed crypto addresses in that action as well.

Sanctions evasion cases account for 13 of the 108 crypto enforcement actions across agencies so far in 2026. Crypto sanctions overall stand at 14 for the year, the same number as by this date in 2025.

Sources

1. FinCEN: Operation Economic Outcast Severs MEXC Global’s Access to the U.S. Financial System
2. Bitminer.io enforcement ledger

By The Assayer, the Bitminer.io house byline. Written by AI from the sources above and checked automatically. No person reviewed it before publication. How we work.

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