币安面临伊朗审查考验，其和解后控制措施受到检验

案件进展：已知与未知

已知情况：

• 据报道，联邦检察官正在调查币安（Binance）是否违反了对伊朗的制裁规定。
• 当局正在询问币安是否在知情的情况下允许了某些交易活动。
• 币安仍需遵守2023年和解协议后施加的合规义务。

未知情况：

• 尚未宣布对币安提起新的指控。
• 调查涵盖的时间段和具体交易细节未公开。
• 目前尚不清楚这是一项独立的调查，还是对早期审查工作的扩展。

核心问题：币安究竟知情多少？

据路透社援引彭博社的报道，美国联邦检察官正在调查币安是否因未能阻止某些交易活动而违反了对伊朗的制裁。曼哈顿美国联邦检察官办公室 reportedly 主导此次调查，司法部刑事部门也参与其中。报道称，检察官正在审查币安是否在“明知”的情况下允许了这些交易。

This standard of recognition is higher than if only Iran-related funds flow into exchanges. Investigators need to determine what information Binance has, whether its systems have generated warnings, and how the company has responded. The Justice Department declined to comment to Reuters, and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan could not immediately be reached. The report is based on anonymous sources and has not yet submitted any public prosecution documents.

Binance made specific compliance commitments in 2023

In November 2023, Binance admitted violating the Bank Secrecy Act, failing to register as a currency transmission business, and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and pleaded guilty to this. Under a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, Binance agreed to pay approximately US$4.32 billion in forfeitures and penalties. In addition, it must strengthen its anti-money laundering and sanctions systems and hire an independent compliance monitoring agency for three years.

A separate U.S. Treasury Department settlement also implemented a five-year surveillance period. Monitoring agencies have access to Binance's books, records and systems and must report the results of their investigations to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Previous cases have involved Iran issues. U.S. authorities said Binance deliberately failed to prevent its U.S. customers from trading with users in sanctioned jurisdictions. According to the Justice Department, between January 2018 and May 2022, the platform resulted in more than $898 million in transactions between U.S. users and people usually living in Iran.

因此，如果最新的审查涉及的是和解后的行为，其意义最为重大。问题不再在于币安曾经是否存在控制不足——这一点它已经承认。现在的关键在于，替代性的新控制措施是否发挥了不同的作用。

新控制措施旨在实现的目标

• 验证客户及最终受益所有人身份
• 检测受限地点及隐蔽访问行为
• 根据制裁数据对用户和钱包进行筛查
• 追踪来自高风险交易对手的存款
• 升级警告信号以供人工审查
• 限制账户并报告可疑活动

没有任何合规计划能保证非法资金永远不会进入平台。其有效性取决于可疑活动是否能在合理期限内被检测到、调查并制止。

6100万美元没收案的相关性——但其证明力可能有限

此次报道的调查出现在曼哈顿检察官另行提起民事诉讼仅仅几天后，该案寻求没收约6100万美元加密货币，据称这些资金源自黑市伊朗石油销售所得。

The Justice Department indictment accuses two Hong Kong companies-Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale-of using Binance accounts to transfer proceeds from Iranian oil transactions. Prosecutors linked the companies to a group of encrypted addresses that allegedly received and distributed more than $1.5 billion. Some of the funds were reportedly routed to businesses and addresses linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The activities involved in the indictment extend into 2024 and 2025, after the Binance settlement. However, the case aimed at confiscation of assets and did not accuse Binan of money laundering.

Key Differences

The indictment accuses customers of using Binance accounts, but does not establish that Binance knew that their alleged business covered up the Iranian oil deal. The two incidents may be related, but no public source has confirmed that the confiscation indictment was the basis for reporting on the China Binance investigation. Treating the two as the same confirmation case would go beyond the scope of existing evidence.

Iran connection is only the first step

Several independent facts need to be established before the activities of currency placement can become evidence of deliberate corporate misconduct:

1. Users associated with Iran visited Binance: This may violate platform restrictions, but does not in itself constitute a prohibited transaction.
2. Funds related to Iran were passed through the account: This establishes a risk of exposure to the funds rather than prior knowledge of their origin.
3. The activity involved a prohibited party or transaction: Investigators will then check whether Binance's screening system detected the link.
4. Binance received clear warnings but allowed it to continue: Such evidence would raise more serious compliance and legal issues.

Iran is subject to extensive U.S. restrictions, but nationality, place of residence and inclusion on the OFAC sanctions list are not interchangeable concepts. Legal analysis may depend on who controls the account, the underlying transaction, the counterparties involved and whether the activity touches the U.S. financial system.

Binance said it will investigate and remove offending users.

Binance told Reuters that it has a zero-tolerance attitude towards sanctions violations, cooperates with law enforcement, and strives to eliminate bad actors. The company has previously denied reducing cooperation with U.S. crypto investigations, putting its handling of alerts and law enforcement requests into broader controversy. Binance provided a similar defense after Reuters traced at least $676 million to Dubai exchange Shelbit's platform from addresses associated with its platform. Binance said Shelbit itself does not have a Binance account and has not been sanctioned. According to Binance, its compliance team investigated the users concerned, froze their accounts and reported them to law enforcement.

This response describes what an effective control system should ultimately do, but it leaves several unanswered questions:

• When did Binance receive the first actionable warning?
• How much activity occurred before the account was restricted?
• Were early alerts upgraded or dismissed?
• Are the requested reports submitted on time?
• 相关客户是否会通过新公司或账户回归？

时间线将决定故事的走向

此次报道的调查可能以没有指控告终，也可能导致另一项执法行动，或者得出币安监控机构的调查结果。在当局披露更多信息之前，不能将其视为公司违反和解义务的证据。

最有说服力的证据将显示币安是何时得知相关客户的，以及随后发生了什么。迅速调查、冻结账户并向当局报告可能表明和解后的控制措施奏效。而在收到明确的内部警告后继续交易，则意味着变化在最关键的环节失败了。

因此，币安上存在与伊朗有关的资金并不是故事的结局。决定性的问题是，交易所的合规机制是否识别了风险，以及是否有人选择无视它。

本文仅供信息参考。报道中的调查并不能确立违规行为，民事投诉中的指控除非在法庭上得到证实，否则仍属未经证实的指控。