PANews reported on February 16 that Binance co-CEO Richard Teng stated in response to a Fortune report that "Binance fired investigators after they discovered Iran-related transactions," and that he has requested the report be corrected. Richard Teng stated that no violations of sanctions regulations were found, and no investigators were fired for raising questions; Binance will continue to fulfill its regulatory commitments.

Previously , Fortune reported that at least five investigators from Binance's investigation team were dismissed starting in late 2025 after discovering transactions on the platform involving Iranian affiliates totaling over $1 billion. These transactions primarily occurred on the Tron blockchain, in the form of Tether's USDT stablecoin. The report also stated that several senior compliance officials had left the company in recent months, and Binance was searching for a successor for its Chief Compliance Officer, Noah Perlman, who is scheduled to leave later this year. In response, Changpeng Zhao stated that the reports that "Binance dismissed investigators because they discovered Iran-related transactions" are "contradictory."