Binance Says UAE Staff Were Released After Third-Party Fund-Flow Questions
NYT via Wu and Reuters/CNA: two Binance staff detained in the UAE in recent weeks. Binance told Reuters they were not targets and were cleared and released after third-party fund-flow questions. Not a hack. Not staff still held. No official UAE readout.
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Editor
Aug 21, 2026 · 1mo ago
2 min read82 views
The New York Times reported that two Binance employees were detained in the United Arab Emirates in recent weeks amid police inquiries into possible financial crimes on the platform. That is WuBlockchain, naming the Times, and the Reuters reprint CNA carried Friday. Binance told Reuters the staff were not targets and were later released. This is a questioning over third-party fund flows through a client money account. It is not a Binance hack. It is not staff still held.
NYT said two staff were stopped at airports
The Times, citing four people familiar with the matter, said the two employees were detained in recent weeks as part of those inquiries. Two of those people said the staff were stopped at airports in the Emirates. The Times said it was not immediately clear what the UAE authorities were investigating.
The Times left the investigation unnamed. Wu’s item is the same pairing: Times on the detainment, Binance on the release.
Binance told Reuters the staff were not targets
When asked about the Times report, Binance told Reuters that a small number of employees were asked to provide statements to UAE authorities as part of what it called routine inquiries into third-party fund flows through a Binance client money account. The company said the employees were not targets of the probe and were cleared and released.
Binance said: "Cryptocurrency and the mechanics of institutional client money accounts remain emerging concepts in many jurisdictions; we are working constructively with Dubai Police and authorities across other Emirates to establish clear, appropriate coordination procedures."
That is the company line on the next process. It is not an official UAE readout. No UAE police statement naming a case, a charge, or a hearing is on this wire.
The same Reuters reprint notes Binance secured a licence to operate in Dubai in 2022, and that in 2024 Nigerian authorities charged Binance and its then head of financial crime compliance, Tigran Gambaryan, with laundering more than $35 million, allegations both Gambaryan and the exchange denied. That is prior legal history. It is not Friday's UAE inquiry.
Claim
Who said it
What it is not
Two employees detained in recent weeks amid possible financial-crime inquiries
The New York Times, four people familiar, as Wu and Reuters reprint it
A Binance hack
Staff stopped at airports in the Emirates
The New York Times, two of those people
A named criminal case
Routine inquiry into third-party fund flows through a client money account; not targets; cleared and released
Binance to Reuters
Staff still held
Coordination procedures with Dubai Police and other UAE authorities
Binance
An official UAE readout
The next dated stamp is an official UAE statement or a named case. Neither is on this last. Live crypto is on prices.
Informational only. Not trading advice, signals, or a guarantee of any market outcome.
Written and fact-checked with AI assistance, reviewed by a human editor before publication.
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