The exchange filed a defamation suit in New York hours after the paper reported the Justice Department was probing whether Iranian networks used the Binance platform to evade US sanctions.
Binance filed a defamation lawsuit against Dow Jones & Company, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday, hours after the newspaper published a report that the Justice Department is investigating whether Iranian networks used the exchange to move funds in violation of American sanctions. The collision of the two developments – an escalating legal offensive against the media and a fresh federal inquiry – created one of the most volatile news cycles that the world’s largest crypto exchange has faced since its $4.3 billion settlement with the US government in 2023.
The Wall Street Journal’s Wednesday report said that DOJ officials have been contacting people with knowledge of transactions on the platform and gathering evidence. However, it was unable to determine whether the investigation is targeting Binance itself or customers who used the exchange.
The investigation follows an earlier WSJ article published on February 23 that alleged Chinese entities had sent $1.7 billion in crypto through Binance to digital wallets linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and that internal investigators who flagged those transactions were subsequently fired. Binance’s defamation lawsuit targets that February article directly.
In its complaint, Binance alleged the February piece contained ‘false and defamatory’ statements, that the exchange had provided factual corrections before publication which the Journal failed to incorporate, and that the newspaper ‘prioritized filing quickly on the heels of the NYT so that it could maximize views of the article.’ The suit targets at least 11 allegedly false statements, requests compensatory damages, attorney fees, and demands a jury trial.
Binance’s global head of litigation Dugan Bliss said the lawsuit was ‘a necessary step to defend ourselves against misinformation, hold the WSJ accountable for prioritizing clicks over journalistic integrity, and address the significant reputational harm and business consequences that have resulted.’
Binance said it had never directly transacted with any sanctioned entities and described the activity flagged in the WSJ’s reporting as part of a ‘sophisticated, multi-jurisdictional pattern of financial activity spanning Asia, the Middle East, and beyond’ that the exchange itself identified, reported to law enforcement, and resolved. The company said direct exposure to Iran’s four major crypto exchanges had fallen 97.3%, from $4.19 million in January 2024 to $110,000 in January 2026. It also said it processed more than 71,000 law enforcement requests in 2025 and helped freeze and recover more than $131 million linked to illicit activity.
Meanwhile, the DOJ has opened a probe into alleged Iran-linked crypto transfers. It remains unclear, however, if Binance itself is under investigation. The decision to sue the WSJ on the same day that the DOJ story ran — before it could fully absorb the second report — may have been legally strategic. Binance’s former CEO Changpeng Zhao, who served four months in a US prison in 2024 before receiving a pardon from President Trump last October, has not commented publicly on Wednesday’s developments.