Overview
- FinCEN issued an order on Friday, Nov. 6, saying MEXC handled roughly $16 billion in suspicious transactions from May 2021 to May 2026 tied to sanctions evasion, ransomware and other cybercrime.
- The order will bar covered U.S. financial institutions from sending or receiving funds involving MEXC 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register, and the rule covers banks, broker‑dealers and futures commission merchants.
- Exchanges moved quickly: OKX has been flagging and holding deposits that trace to MEXC and Binance announced on Nov. 10 it will reject withdrawals to MEXC and temporarily withhold incoming deposits for compliance review.
- MEXC says trading, deposits and withdrawals remain operational, disputes FinCEN’s findings, and has launched an independent review of its anti‑money‑laundering and sanctions controls while working with analytics firms.
- Ordinary users report frozen or delayed transfers as platforms apply preemptive controls, a disruption that could further squeeze liquidity, complicate cross‑exchange withdrawals, and signal wider use of FinCEN measures to cut off dollar rails.