CoinEx denies WSJ's allegations of facilitating $3.84 billion in Iranian fund transfers, claiming no ties to Iranian state entities.
CoinEx, a cryptocurrency exchange, has denied allegations from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) asserting that it facilitated the transfer of $3.84 billion from Iran, violating U.S. sanctions. The claims, supported by data from TRM Labs, suggest that CoinEx and its associated entities have processed substantial Iranian transactions over the last seven years.
The exchange insists it has no commercial ties with Iranian state entities or local exchanges, and has refrained from providing sanctioned individuals with financing options.
In 2021, CoinEx was blacklisted by Iranian authorities, leading to the blocking of its domain in the country, which the exchange points to as evidence against its role as a financial conduit for Iran.
CoinEx also emphasized that it has neither established offices in Iran nor employed staff there, asserting that its referral program was driven by users rather than the company's initiatives. "We categorically reject any claims that conflate ordinary user activity with state-level sanction evasion," the exchange stated.
In light of a recent hack involving Bybit, CoinEx reported that it promptly assisted in blocking an account and freezing assets, while also pledging to conduct an internal investigation. The exchange itself faced a cyberattack in 2023, resulting in approximately $80 million in losses, which investigators linked to a North Korean group.
CoinEx has increased its oversight of operations in regions affected by sanctions following restrictions on Iranian exchanges. The exchange acknowledged the complexities of blockchain transaction attribution, which can vary based on analysis methodologies.
Details of the WSJ Allegations
The WSJ's investigation, relying on TRM Labs' data, indicates that CoinEx, along with its mining pool ViaBTC and over 60 Iranian crypto services, facilitated over $3.84 billion in transactions over seven years. CoinEx reportedly accounted for nearly 8% of the volume associated with illegal activity, in stark contrast to compliant platforms that maintain around 0.3%.
Significant flows were noted between CoinEx and Iran's largest exchange, Nobitex, with over $2.7 billion exchanged in 6.2 million transactions since November 2018, averaging about $1 million per day. By 2025, CoinEx represented approximately 16% of Nobitex's turnover, significantly surpassing other external partners. Analysts suggest that Nobitex sent significantly more to CoinEx than it received, indicating a potential outflow of cryptocurrency from Iran.
CoinEx's role in this context emerged after Binance, which had been Nobitex's primary partner, faced U.S. fines for servicing Iranian clients in 2023 and was replaced by CoinEx by 2024.
TRM Labs also reported that ViaBTC transferred over $154 million to Nobitex as mining payouts. Following a cyberattack on Nobitex in 2025, ViaBTC assisted in restoring liquidity by transferring funds from inactive mining wallets.
Additional claims in the report highlight connections to the Central Bank of Iran, suggesting that around $67 million linked to the bank passed through a money laundering scheme to CoinEx. Analysts connected this money to $1.5 billion stolen in the Bybit hack, attributed to North Korean hackers.
While transactions involving Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani and associated entities were noted, CoinEx and the WSJ clarified that these occurred prior to relevant sanctions being imposed. Following U.S. sanctions against several Iranian exchanges in June 2026, the volume of transactions between CoinEx and these exchanges reportedly dropped below $150,000. However, analysts caution that new evasion channels may have emerged, which are currently undetectable.
CoinEx's CEO, Haipo Yang, acknowledged that Iranians use the platform but maintained that there is no connection to Iranian authorities. Research indicates that about 13% of Iran's population engages in cryptocurrency to safeguard their savings against the rial's devaluation. In February 2026, Binance similarly refuted allegations from various media outlets regarding substantial transfers to Iran-related accounts.
