Overnight, a flood of people on Chinese Twitter were urging MEXC users to withdraw their funds immediately. However, after reading the US Treasury Department's press release from beginning to end, I noticed no mention of freezing user assets. On Friday, Eastern Time, FinCEN, a division of the US Treasury Department, issued an order cutting off MEXC Global's access to the US financial system, citing allegations that the exchange facilitated at least $16 billion in potentially illegal funds over five years. The figure is alarming, but many may not have clearly understood who this order actually targets. According to the Treasury Department's press release, this $16 billion covers the period from May 2021 to May 2026, involving sanctions circumvention, cybercrime, etc. Nearly $1.5 billion is related to circumventing Russian sanctions, and approximately $1 billion consists of direct transactions with more than 40 Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges. The Treasury Department also specifically named that until June 2026, it was still dealing with the sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex and its successor Grinex. Treasury Secretary Bessant's words were very firm: financial institutions "cannot have it both ways"—either support the Iranian regime or access the US financial system. Cointelegraph noted that this is part of the Treasury Department's Economic Outcast operation launched in August, specifically targeting financial institutions that help Iran circumvent sanctions. The turning point is here: this order doesn't use a regular sanctions list. Decrypt specifically mentioned that it uses Section 9714(a) of the Countering Russia Money Laundering Act. This prohibits any fund transfers between US financial institutions and MEXC Global, and it won't take effect until 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. In other words, it blocks US financial channels; US banks and payment institutions can no longer receive or make payments for it. The Treasury Department's original statement didn't specify what would happen to individual accounts, and several reports didn't mention user assets being frozen. As for the claim that "other exchanges will freeze money withdrawn from it," I couldn't find any source in the original text or reports. The reason everyone is so nervous is because it's not a small exchange. According to Treasury Department data, as of September 2026, MEXC had a daily trading volume exceeding $1 billion and reserves of approximately $5 billion, hosting over 3,000 cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets, making it one of the top 20 cryptocurrency exchanges globally. If you've deposited money there, what you really need to watch isn't the countdown on Twitter, but whether it will issue any announcements in the next 30 days, whether there will be any changes to deposit and withdrawal methods, and when it will be published in the Federal Register. As of the time of Cointelegraph's publication, MEXC has not responded to requests for comment. In short, this time the US isn't using fines, but directly cutting off the financial channel. This sends a signal to the entire industry: compliance loopholes may ultimately lead to the severing of access. The $16 billion figure is the Treasury Department's accusation; MEXC's response hasn't been released yet, but panic posts have already preceded the original articles. Especially in situations like this, it's crucial to first understand the official documents before deciding what to do. If your preferred exchange is cut off from USD access tomorrow, will you withdraw your funds immediately, or wait for the official announcement? Other key points today are shown in the image. MEXC US Treasury Department Crypto Daily Briefing This article is sponsored by AVE https://share.ave.ai?lang=en&code=nancy.c0813