Can Iran Still Fund the IRGC With Crypto? Treasury Just Sanctioned Another Exchange
The US Treasury sanctioned crypto trade BitBank on Thursday. The platform was used to maneuver lots of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in Bitcoin (BTC) to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the division alleges.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) additionally designated BitBank’s software program developer and three associates of Babak Zanjani. The Iranian financier already sits on the US sanctions listing.
Treasury Hits Iran’s Crypto Rails as BitBank and Its Developer Land on Sanctions List
BitBank is an Iranian digital asset trade. Zanjani has marketed its companies on its social media accounts since at the least 2024, in accordance with the Treasury. Several companies on Zanjani’s sanctions evasion listing the trade as a associate.
According to OFAC, Zanjani routed lots of of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to the IRGC via BitBank. Those transfers ran between June and July. Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, designated individually, has handed funds to the regime via the trade since June.
The sanctions additionally prolonged to Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, the developer of BitBank’s digital belongings software program. The developer is a subsidiary of Dot One Value Creation Group, which OFAC designated earlier.
Three Dot One executives additionally landed on the listing. Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein brokered digital asset transactions that reached the IRGC, Treasury mentioned. Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein runs Pishtaz Simorgh, whereas Seyed Adel Heidari serves as vice chairman of Dot One’s board.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent framed the motion as a warning to anybody financing Tehran.
“Today’s designations of Iranian digital asset infrastructure make completely clear that efforts to finance the Iranian regime utilizing cryptocurrencies aren’t past OFAC’s attain. If you assist the Iranian regime, the Department of the Treasury will sanction you,” he said.
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Earlier this month, the division declared Iran’s digital asset sector sanctionable in full. The marketing campaign reaches effectively previous crypto. The Treasury designated Russia’s VTB Bank on September 14 over alleged correspondent relationships with sanctioned Iranian banks.
The actions stream from Executive Order 13902 and Operation Economic Outcast. Bessent introduced the marketing campaign on August 24 and dubbed it “Economic D-Day.”
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