FinCEN Cuts Off MEXC From U.S. Financial System Over Alleged $16B Illicit

The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a final order Friday that will cut offshore exchange MEXC Global off from the American banking system over alleged links to sanctions evasion by Iran, North Korea and Russia, the department said.

FinCEN’s order, published as a PDF pending Federal Register placement, finds MEXC a “primary money laundering concern in connection with Russian illicit finance” under section 9714(a) of the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act. Thirty days after that Register notice, covered U.S. financial institutions will be barred from any funds transfer — including convertible virtual currency — to or from MEXC.

Reuters reported the same cut-off Friday afternoon. Treasury framed the move as part of Operation Economic Outcast. It is not an OFAC sanctions designation: the order says it does not rewrite Bank Secrecy Act duties or OFAC rules, and it is a FinCEN funds-transmittal ban rather than a Section 311 proposed rulemaking.

Treasury alleges MEXC facilitated at least $16 billion in illicit flows from May 2021 through May 2026, including nearly $1.5 billion tied to Russian sanctions evasion and about $22 million linked to Iran’s Central Bank and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Qods Force. The platform was still processing trades with sanctioned Garantex and successor Grinex as recently as June 2026, more than four years after OFAC designated Garantex, the release says.

What the order does — and when

The order, signed by FinCEN Deputy Director Jimmy L. Kirby, covers MEXC Global and named affiliates operating outside the United States, including Seychelles-incorporated MEXC Global Ltd / MX Global Ltd, Estonia’s MEXC Estonia OÜ, Switzerland’s GIDA Technology AG and the U.K.’s MXC Global Ltd, plus successors. Covered institutions face civil or criminal penalties for willful violations.

Until the Federal Register publishes the notice, the 30-day clock has not started. As of Friday evening eastern time the Register’s public index still showed no MEXC document, matching the order’s own cover note that publication is pending.

Background on MEXC

Founded in 2018 and formerly branded MXC, MEXC ranks among the world’s 20 largest centralized crypto venues by volume. Treasury puts daily turnover above $1 billion and reserves near $5 billion as of mid-2026, with access claimed across more than 170 countries. The exchange already lists the United States as a prohibited jurisdiction in its user terms, so Friday’s action mainly hits any remaining dollar rails, banking partners and counterparties that still touch U.S. institutions.

Regulators elsewhere have been circling for years. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority put MEXC Global Ltd on its warning list in March 2024 as unauthorized. Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission warned the same month that the platform was marketing to local investors without a licence. Seychelles’ Financial Services Authority said in…