TRM Labs alleges $3.84B in Iran-linked flows through CoinEx since 2019
CoinEx denies ties to Iranian exchanges and disputes that on-chain flows imply facilitation of sanctions evasion.
TRM Labs quantified alleged Iran-linked activity through CoinEx at more than $3.84 billion since 2019, framing the exchange as a channel used to bypass US sanctions. CoinEx responded publicly by denying any commercial relationship with Iranian exchanges or sanctioned parties and challenging what on-chain tracing can prove about intent.
Key Takeaways
- Wallets linked to sanctioned Iranian entities moved over $3.84 billion through CoinEx since 2019, according to TRM Labs.
- TRM traced $2.7 billion in flows between CoinEx and Iran’s Nobitex, averaging about $1 million per day since 2018, and tied roughly 60 Iranian platforms to the funds.
- CoinEx’s illicit transaction volume share was estimated at nearly 8% versus a 0.3% threshold seen at other compliant exchanges, per TRM’s methodology.
- CoinEx denied any commercial relationship with the Iranian government or domestic Iranian exchanges and said on-chain flows do not prove knowledge of illicit activity.
TRM Puts a $3.84B Number on Alleged Iran-Linked Flows Through CoinEx
TRM Labs, a blockchain analytics firm that traces on-chain transactions for illicit and sanctions exposure, said wallets with identifiable links to sanctioned Iranian entities moved over $3.84 billion through CoinEx since 2019. The report frames CoinEx as a meaningful venue in the sanctions-evasion narrative, not a marginal edge case.
For traders, the immediate relevance is not moral panic. It is counterparty and access risk. When a major analytics shop puts a multi-billion dollar figure on a single venue and explicitly ties it to sanctioned-entity activity, the next step is often compliance scrutiny, banking pressure, or geo-fencing changes that can disrupt deposits, withdrawals, and market access.
TRM also estimated CoinEx’s share of illicit transaction volume at nearly 8%. TRM contrasted that with a 0.3% threshold it said is found at other compliant exchanges, positioning CoinEx as an outlier on its own metric.
The CoinEx–Nobitex Link: $2.7B Traced and a $1M/Day Flow Rate Claim
TRM’s most concrete corridor claim is the CoinEx–Nobitex channel. It said $2.7 billion flowed between CoinEx and Nobitex, described as Iran’s largest domestic crypto exchange, at an average pace of about $1 million per day since 2018. TRM tied about 60 Iranian platforms to the traced funds.
The report goes further on pattern analysis. By 2024, TRM said CoinEx was Nobitex’s largest external counterpart, nearly nine times the next-largest exchange, calling the pattern “inconsistent with independent market behaviour.” TRM also said major Iranian domestic exchanges route about 5% to 10% of their trading volume through CoinEx, which it characterized as a “coordinated arrangement rather than organic adoption,” a framing that will keep Nobitex-related headlines tightly coupled to CoinEx risk perception.
CoinEx Pushes Back: Denial of Relationships and Dispute Over What On-Chain Data Proves
CoinEx issued a statement on X denying it has “any commercial relationship with the Iranian government or domestic Iranian exchanges” and saying it “has never provided funding channels to sanctioned parties.”
CoinEx also challenged the inference layer of TRM’s work, stating that “onchain fund flows do not demonstrate a platform's knowledge of or participation in illicit activity.” That methodological dispute matters because it draws a line between being a venue that receives flows and being a venue that knowingly facilitates sanctioned activity. Until a regulator weighs in, the market is left trading the spread between those two interpretations.
Enforcement Backdrop and Near-Term Risk Signals for Exchange Access
The report lands in an enforcement-heavy backdrop. It came three weeks after the US Treasury sanctioned four Iranian crypto exchanges as part of an “Economic Fury” campaign. Days before those sanctions, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Treasury had seized $1 billion in crypto from Iranian exchanges and wallets since the start of “the war,” though the conflict and start date were not specified.
Near-term, traders will be watching for any follow-on US Treasury or OFAC actions tied to Iranian crypto exchange enforcement, and whether CoinEx provides additional disclosures on compliance controls or a detailed rebuttal to TRM’s tracing methodology beyond its X denial.
TRM also broadened the story beyond exchange flows by naming CoinEx-affiliated mining pool ViaBTC. TRM said ViaBTC accounted for $154 million in traced exposure to Nobitex through mining payouts and supplied emergency liquidity after Predatory Sparrow’s $90 million hack in June 2025. Any public response from ViaBTC to those claims is a live risk signal, as is further third-party analytics that corroborates or contradicts TRM’s CoinEx–Nobitex corridor figures.
How Traders Should Frame Sanctions-Exposure Headlines Without Overreacting
I treat this as an access-risk headline first and a narrative fight second. TRM put hard numbers on a CoinEx–Iran corridor and an “illicit share” statistic that reads like an outlier, while CoinEx is explicitly disputing the leap from on-chain flows to intent. That combination tends to pull in compliance teams and payment rails even before any formal action.
The threshold that matters is whether this stays a single-report controversy or becomes a multi-source consensus that regulators can point to. If the CoinEx–Nobitex corridor figures hold up under additional analytics and CoinEx cannot credibly narrow the methodology dispute with concrete controls and disclosures, the setup starts to look structural rather than narrative-driven, meaning real friction for users rather than just a bad news cycle.
