Iranian Crypto Exchange BitBank Lands on US Treasury’s Sanctions List
The US Treasury Department has sanctioned cryptocurrency change BitBank as a part of a wider crackdown on Iran’s monetary networks.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) mentioned BitBank is managed by Iranian financier Babak Zanjani, who’s already underneath US sanctions. The company accused the change of serving to transfer funds linked to Iran.
BitBank Targeted
According to OFAC, BitBank was used to switch funds obtained by the Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, an entity already designated by the US. The company mentioned the transfers started in June. Treasury officers additionally alleged that BitBank was concerned in shifting a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} value of Bitcoin to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, between June and July.
The motion additionally targets BitBank’s developer, Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, together with three executives linked to Zanjani: Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein, and Seyed Adel Heidari. OFAC described the group as a part of Zanjani’s digital asset community.
The sanctions have been imposed underneath Executive Order 13902, which provides the US authorities powers to focus on elements of Iran’s financial system, together with its digital asset sector. Treasury plans to make use of these powers to pursue crypto platforms and different companies that assist the West Asian nation evade US restrictions.
BitBank has been working as an Iranian digital asset change since at the least 2024. According to OFAC, Zanjani promoted the change by way of his social media accounts. BitBank was additionally listed as a associate by different corporations linked to his enterprise community, the company claimed.
Zanjani has confronted authorized motion in Iran previously. He was sentenced to loss of life in 2016 over the embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} from the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company. His sentence was later commuted in 2024. US officers now assert that he has rebuilt a community of companies that features digital asset corporations.
The newest measures come underneath the Operation Economic Outcast. The Treasury launched the marketing campaign in August 2026 as a part of efforts to limit Iran’s entry to worldwide monetary channels.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent acknowledged,
“If you assist the Iranian regime, the Department of the Treasury will sanction you.”
Iranian Crypto Sector Faces Pressure
Back in June, the US sanctioned Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex. Nobitex drew explicit consideration. Treasury said it dealt with greater than half of Iran’s crypto inflows in 2025. Officials additionally alleged that the change helped transfer stablecoins and supported entry to abroad crypto platforms.
Nobitex co-founder and former CEO Amir Hossein Rad was additionally focused.
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