Binance Admits to Blocking Thousands of Iranian Accounts Needlessly Due To Sanctions
"The world’s biggest crypto exchange unwittingly blocked thousands of Iranian accounts because of U.S. sanctions when they shouldn’t have."
- "While some critics allege the company hasn't done enough on the compliance front, it now appears the exchange might have gone too far in the opposite direction."
- "To be clear, just because you're Iranian doesn't mean you are prohibited from using Binance services. You just can't live there."
- "In thousands of cases, however, the company failed to make that distinction, with some Iranian customers having their accounts blocked when they should not have been."
“Iran is a little bit tricky because it’s a big country, and lots of Iranians purchase KYC (accounts that have passed the know-your-customer compliance stage and are active) to be able to use services like Binance or other services. That is problematic,” Binance’s Global Head of Sanctions Chagri Poyraz said.
- “I’m not saying every Iranian goes and purchases an already open Binance account, but they tend to do it more than the other countries,” he added.
- According to latest report, anyone can purchase a verified Binance account for as much as $410 on dark web markets, meaning that extensive KYC/AML protocols affect mostly law abiding users.
- "The “ascent of the ultra-conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi as president” has spurred a “brain drain” with many Iranians seeking increased stability and opportunity abroad," as well as in crypto markets.
