Binance is cutting off outbound transfers to 16 crypto platforms in a staged rollout tied to fresh US and EU sanctions targeting networks linked to Iran and Russia. The exchange announced the restrictions on August 14, with the changes rolling out in three waves rather than all at once.
The first wave hit Iran-based Shelbit and Aban Tether Exchange on August 7. A second wave added A7 Nigeria, A7 Africa and PilotFinance on August 13. The largest and final wave lands August 23, covering HTX, EXMO, Rapira, Aifory Pro, ABCeX, WhiteBird, NoOnecrypto, Tradex, Monease, BitPapa and Exnode. Binance says it will not delete or freeze user assets already held on the affected platforms, but outbound transfers to them will be blocked, and users who attempt restricted transactions face compliance reviews and possible temporary account suspension.
Two Separate Sanctions Tracks
The action bundles together two distinct regulatory pushes. On the Iran side, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Shelbit and Aban Tether on August 7, saying the exchanges belonged to a network the Iranian regime uses to launder billions of dollars and fund the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. On the Russia side, HTX and EXMO were separately named in the European Union's latest sanctions package; EU persons and entities are barred from any direct or indirect dealings with HTX starting August 23, the same date Binance's own restriction on the platform takes effect.
An Escalating Pattern
The move continues a pattern of major exchanges pre-emptively cutting ties with sanctioned counterparties rather than waiting to be forced to by regulators in each jurisdiction they operate in — a similar dynamic to the exchange-level delisting decisions increasingly common across the industry. For platforms like HTX and EXMO, which have long served users in sanctioned jurisdictions, losing transfer connectivity to the world's largest exchange by volume represents a meaningful liquidity blow even without a formal delisting.
Related: Upbit and Bithumb to Delist STORJ, JASMY and TT on September 14
Binance has not said whether additional platforms could be added to the restricted list as more sanctions packages take effect, but the staged, jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction rollout suggests the exchange is treating this as an ongoing compliance process rather than a one-time list.
