Binance has stopped processing cryptocurrency transfers involving MEXC and its affiliated entities, warning that customers who receive funds from the rival exchange could have their deposits withheld, accounts restricted or access to Binance terminated.
The restrictions, announced on November 10, 2026, follow a U.S. Treasury enforcement action identifying MEXC Global as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern. Binance’s decision takes effect immediately, a month before the underlying U.S. transfer prohibition becomes enforceable on December 10.
Binance’s notice covers both direct and indirect transactions involving MEXC, potentially affecting customers moving assets between exchanges through intermediary wallets. The company has not specified how it will identify indirect transfers, how long compliance reviews will take or under what conditions withheld deposits can be released.
Binance rejects MEXC withdrawals and holds incoming deposits
In its November 10 announcement, published at 08:30 UTC, Binance said it could no longer process transactions involving MEXC Global and a range of related legal entities following the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) designation.
The restrictions cover MEXC Global Limited, MEXC Estonia OÜ, GIDA Technology AG, MXC Global Ltd, MEXC Global Foundation Ltd, MEXC Singapore Pte Ltd and MEXC (Comoros) Ltd.
Binance also included MEXC Global, MEX Global Ltd, MX Global LTD, the former name MEX Exchange and MEXC affiliates more generally.
Under the policy, outgoing transfers from Binance accounts to these entities will be declined. Incoming cryptocurrency deposits originating from the listed entities will instead be temporarily withheld for compliance review.
That creates two different outcomes for customers attempting to move funds between the exchanges.
A transfer initiated from Binance to a recognized MEXC destination should be rejected before completion. A transfer initiated from MEXC toward Binance may already have been executed on the blockchain before the receiving exchange identifies it as subject to review.
The money can arrive on-chain, and still not be usable in the account.
Binance warned that affected customers could face additional account restrictions during the review and potentially be offboarded under its Terms of Use. The announcement does not establish that every customer receiving MEXC-linked funds will automatically lose access to Binance.
There is no grace period in Binance’s notice, not for these transfers.
FinCEN prohibition begins December 10
Binance’s action follows FinCEN’s November 6 order accusing MEXC Global of facilitating approximately $16.7 billion in transactions connected to sanctions evasion, cybercrime and other illicit activity between May 2021 and May 2026.
The regulator determined that the exchange was a foreign financial institution of primary money laundering concern in connection with Russian illicit finance. Its findings included nearly $1.5 billion in transactions with direct or indirect exposure to Russian sanctions evasion and substantial activity involving Iranian actors and cybercrime networks.
DaveFinances previously examined the U.S. Treasury’s $16.7 billion findings against MEXC, including the exchange’s transactions with sanctioned entities and the scope of the enforcement measure.
The order was issued under Section 9714(a) of the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act. It prohibits covered U.S. financial institutions from sending or receiving funds involving MEXC Global, including cryptocurrency transactions.
The final order published in the Federal Register on November 10 confirms that the prohibition becomes effective December 10, 2026, with no specified expiration date.
Binance’s November 10 policy is therefore an earlier, separately announced operational decision rather than the commencement of FinCEN’s statutory prohibition.
The legal scope is also different. FinCEN’s measure directly binds covered U.S. financial institutions. Binance’s announcement describes restrictions on transactions through its own platform without expressly limiting them to U.S. customers.
FinCEN’s order is not a blanket freeze on MEXC customer assets or a requirement for every international cryptocurrency exchange to suspend dealings with MEXC immediately.
Indirect transfers create uncertainty for wallet holders
One of the more consequential elements of Binance’s announcement is its explicit reference to indirect transactions.
The company instructed customers not to send funds to, recieve funds from or otherwise transact through Binance involving the identified MEXC entities, whether directly or indirectly.
A wallet in between, though, makes the screening question harder.
Cryptocurrency transfers can pass through self-custody wallets or other intermediaries before reaching an exchange. Blockchain analytics can identify relationships between known exchange-controlled addresses and subsequent transactions, but the presence of a historical connection does not necessarily establish the purpose or current ownership of the funds.
The distinction is addressed in FinCEN’s published order. The regulator acknowledges that covered financial institutions may receive cryptocurrency originating from MEXC even when they intend to prevent such transfers, because transactions initiated from external blockchain addresses cannot always be stopped.
FinCEN specifically discusses circumstances in which funds originated from MEXC but remained in an unhosted wallet for an extended period before reaching another financial institution.
Its order allows covered institutions discretion in handling certain transactions where returning funds to the originating entity may be impractical or inconsistent with risk controls.
Binance has not disclosed the transaction-history thresholds or wallet-attribution standards it will apply to identify indirect MEXC exposure. It is therefore unclear whether an intermediate self-custody wallet, by itself, would trigger a hold or whether additional evidence linking the transfer to MEXC would be required.
The exchange has also not published a dedicated procedure for recovering withheld deposits under the new policy.
Its announcement directs customers to Binance Support but does not specify a review deadline, documentation requirements, appeal process or whether rejected incoming funds will be returned to their originating addresses.
Those missing details leave users without a clear indication of how long an affected balance may remain unavailable.
The company has not disclosed whether customers whose deposits are eventually cleared would automatically regain full account access or whether a seperate review of their trading relationships could continue.
Restrictions may affect customers outside the United States
Binance’s notice does not identify a geographic exemption for customers residing outside the United States. Although it contains the platform’s standard regional-availability disclaimer, the actual transaction restrictions are addressed broadly to Binance users.
For non-U.S. customers the wording is broad, perhaps broader than some expected.
That does not establish that every Binance legal entity or regional service will apply identical procedures. The company has not provided a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction breakdown of implementation.
MEXC, meanwhile, has maintained that its platform remains operational and customer assets are secure.
In a November 7 statement, the exchange announced an independent review of its anti-money-laundering and sanctions controls and said it intended to engage with FinCEN and other regulators.
As detailed in DaveFinances’ report on MEXC’s independent compliance review, the company has not identified the external reviewer, provided a completion timetable or explained whether the findings will be published.
The exchange has also faced customer-facing withdrawal interruptions since the regulatory action. On November 7, MEXC support acknowledged temporary USDT withdrawal suspensions affecting certain blockchain networks, attributing them to routine maintenance.
DaveFinances separately reported the USDT withdrawal pauses affecting MEXC customers. The available evidence does not establish that those network-specific interruptions resulted from FinCEN’s order or Binance’s subsequent restrictions.
Binance’s new policy introduces an additional obstacle for MEXC customers seeking to transfer assets to another major trading platform, regardless of whether MEXC’s own withdrawal services remain available.
So far, the practical details are rather thin.
Binance has not disclosed how many accounts or transactions may be affected, the value of deposits already withheld or whether any customers have been offboarded under the policy.
The immediate position is clear for direct transfers between the exchanges: Binance will reject outgoing payments to MEXC and review incoming deposits from the identified entities. The treatment of indirect transfers and the circumstances under which customers can recover withheld funds remain less certain.
With FinCEN’s formal prohibition scheduled to begin December 10, the response from other financial counterparties is also still availble to be assessed. Binance has already moved ahead of that deadline, turning a U.S. regulatory finding into restrictions affecting transfers on one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platforms.
Johan Shamshad is Editor-in-Chief at Dave Finances, covering financial markets, digital assets, trading platforms, brokers, fintech, payments and regulation. Since 2023, he has also worked as an editor at Gulf News, the UAE English-language newspaper published by Al Nisr Publishing LLC. His work focuses on market-moving developments, company disclosures, regulatory changes and trading infrastructure, with an emphasis on primary-source verification and practical context for traders and investors.