$110,000 versus hundreds of millions of dollars.
Senator Richard Blumenthal sent a records request to Binance CEO Richard Teng, investigating Binance’s anti-money-laundering practices and Iran-related fund flows. In his letter, Blumenthal said Binance had not previously provided responsive materials. And here’s the thing: he put two sets of figures side by side. Binance had said it directly exchanged $110,000 with four major Iranian crypto exchanges last year; reports cited by Blumenthal, meanwhile, said fund transfers involving entities linked to Iran amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Binance cited $110,000, while the investigation letter pointed to hundreds of millions. Of course Blumenthal is pressing for the records. Looking just at this clash of figures, Binance’s position looks worse: it failed to get Blumenthal to withdraw the records request and instead received a deadline to hand over the documents.
Blumenthal ordered Binance to begin producing records no later than November 30 and to voluntarily provide everything by January 4, 2027. If it still hasn’t turned them over by then, the investigative subcommittee will consider other measures. This is getting hard to watch: the earlier request went unanswered, and now there’s a calendar on the table too.
The same round of requests also named Tether, World Liberty Financial, and Fight Fight Fight LLC. Blumenthal’s letter to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino sought records of contracts, payments, communications, and lobbying between the company and consulting firm Nxum, co-founder Bo Hines, and related parties. The other two companies were asked for records concerning ownership, foreign investment, and potential conflicts of interest.
On November 30, Binance has to start turning over records.
Senator Richard Blumenthal sent a records request to Binance CEO Richard Teng, investigating Binance’s anti-money-laundering practices and Iran-related fund flows. In his letter, Blumenthal said Binance had not previously provided responsive materials. And here’s the thing: he put two sets of figures side by side. Binance had said it directly exchanged $110,000 with four major Iranian crypto exchanges last year; reports cited by Blumenthal, meanwhile, said fund transfers involving entities linked to Iran amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Binance cited $110,000, while the investigation letter pointed to hundreds of millions. Of course Blumenthal is pressing for the records. Looking just at this clash of figures, Binance’s position looks worse: it failed to get Blumenthal to withdraw the records request and instead received a deadline to hand over the documents.
Blumenthal ordered Binance to begin producing records no later than November 30 and to voluntarily provide everything by January 4, 2027. If it still hasn’t turned them over by then, the investigative subcommittee will consider other measures. This is getting hard to watch: the earlier request went unanswered, and now there’s a calendar on the table too.
The same round of requests also named Tether, World Liberty Financial, and Fight Fight Fight LLC. Blumenthal’s letter to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino sought records of contracts, payments, communications, and lobbying between the company and consulting firm Nxum, co-founder Bo Hines, and related parties. The other two companies were asked for records concerning ownership, foreign investment, and potential conflicts of interest.
On November 30, Binance has to start turning over records.