Two crypto billionaires are behind both the Trump family token and the mechanism for evading Iran's sanctions.

      Reuters has traced $2.3 billion in transactions from the Iranian exchange Nobitex to the Tron and BNB Chain blockchains since 2023. These blockchains were established by two of the main early supporters of World Liberty Financial (WLF). No individuals at WLF have been accused of being aware of these transactions.

      A Reuters report released on Monday highlights that Nobitex, Iran's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has handled at least $2.3 billion since the start of 2023 on the Tron and BNB Chain blockchains, with Tron being founded by Justin Sun. BNB Chain was created by Binance, which is owned by Changpeng Zhao. Both Sun and Zhao are among the most notable early investors in World Liberty Financial, the crypto company co-founded by Donald Trump and his family. There is no implication that the Trump family was knowledgeable about Nobitex’s utilization of either blockchain.

      According to Reuters’ analysis of public blockchain data, which was sourced from Arkham, approximately $2 billion of the Nobitex transactions occurred on Tron while $317 million occurred on BNB Chain since January 1, 2023. Following the onset of the Iran war in February, $22.6 million transacted on BNB Chain and $550,000 via Tron during the same period. Four cryptocurrency analysts have deemed the calculations as reliable, with independent investigator Rich Sanders suggesting the actual figure is likely higher, given that public flows are detectable only for known Nobitex addresses, and the exchange has acknowledged altering its addresses to evade tracing.

      The involved parties have publicly expressed their positions regarding this news. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly referred to the article as a "bizarre attempt to link President Trump to Iran’s banking system," deeming it "totally laughable." A spokesperson for World Liberty stated that the company "has no relationship with Nobitex and adheres to U.S. law," emphasizing that "World Liberty does not own, operate, or control Tron in any manner, nor does it have authority over transactions conducted on it." Nobitex claimed that any illicit funds passing through their exchange did so "without management approval or awareness."

      A spokesperson for Tron explained that the network acts as a "technology provider" and cannot "monitor and investigate every user and every transaction." Binance clarified that it was an "initial contributor and incubator" of BNB Chain, rather than its operator.

      The clarification regarding Binance's corporate structure reveals additional context. Documents from Abu Dhabi indicate that Zhao is the only listed shareholder of BNB Chain Technology Holding Limited, the entity to which BNB Chain’s operations were transferred in 2023.

      Reuters' earlier reporting in 2022 found that approximately $7.8 billion in cryptocurrency flowed between Nobitex and Binance from 2018 to 2022, with roughly three-quarters in Tron’s native asset, as Nobitex actively encouraged clients to utilize Tron for trading “without jeopardizing assets due to sanctions.”

      The Trump family's financial stake in WLF is a key aspect of this reporting. Sun’s ownership of 4 billion WLFI tokens is estimated to be worth about $266 million, based on Reuters' calculations, while Binance currently holds $3.8 billion of the Trump family’s token.

      In early 2025, Abu Dhabi’s MGX acquired a $2 billion stake in Binance, announcing that the transaction would be settled in WLF’s USD1 stablecoin. Trump’s October 2025 pardon of Zhao, which erased his federal conviction for not maintaining an effective anti-money-laundering program, coincides with this business timeline.

      Binance and Zhao's legal representatives have stated there is no link between the USD1 transaction and the pardon.

      Details surrounding money laundering have been well documented. Tether froze several Nobitex wallet addresses at the request of Israel's National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing.

      In January, Elliptic and two specialists focused on Iran reported that the Central Bank of Iran, which has been sanctioned by the U.S. since 2019 over accusations of financing the IRGC and Hezbollah, acquired over $500 million in Tether via Tron from November 2024 to June 2025, with approximately $347 million routed to Nobitex in the first half of 2025. The central bank also converted holdings into different coins and transferred them over BNB Chain to conceal their origin.

      However, the United States has not imposed sanctions on Nobitex directly, and Reuters states it could not ascertain the rationale behind this. The watchdog group Public Citizen has described the WLF/Binance/Iran connection as a "conflict coin" and has called for investigations from the Treasury and DOJ.

      Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jack Reed have independently requested formal inquiries into WLF’s sanctions compliance, which the company asserts are "the highest standard in the industry."

      Prior to the Reuters investigation, the main parties involved had already experienced discord. Sun