UK Moves To Shut Down Crypto Exchange Tied To Iran’s Military

A blockchain analytics agency discovered that just about 90% of cash processed by a UK-registered crypto change in 2024 was linked to Iran’s strongest navy group.

A Billion Dollars And A Fake Boss

TRM Labs, which tracks cryptocurrency flows, reported that Zedxion Exchange and a associated platform known as Zedcex moved roughly $1 billion tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

In 2024, IRGC-linked funds made up about 87% of all transactions the 2 exchanges dealt with. Even as that share fell to roughly 48% in 2025, the uncooked greenback quantities linked to the Iranian navy group remained huge.

Now the UK is shutting the change down.

Britain’s Companies House — the federal government physique that registers companies — has began a obligatory strike-off in opposition to Zedxion Exchange Ltd. Authorities say the corporate filed false info, together with itemizing a director who by no means existed.

Stock Photo, Fake Name, Real Money

The fictitious director was registered below the title Elizabeth Newman, listed as a citizen of the Dominican Republic.

An investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) discovered that the lady behind the title was seemingly manufactured totally — her picture in firm advertising movies traced again to a inventory photograph.

Before Newman appeared in firm information, a person named Babak Morteza held the director place. His particulars matched these of Babak Zanjani, an Iranian businessman who had beforehand been sentenced to demise in Iran for stealing state oil funds.

That sentence was lowered in 2024, and Zanjani resumed enterprise operations. Morteza was listed as director and the individual with vital management of Zedxion from October 2021 to August 2022.

Zanjani can be mentioned to go DotOne Holding Group, a conglomerate with operations throughout cryptocurrency, international change, logistics, and telecommunications — sectors which have been used previously to sidestep worldwide sanctions.

Washington Acted First

The UK crackdown follows US sanctions imposed in January by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Both Zedxion and Zedcex have been named in that motion. OFAC mentioned Zanjani helped fund initiatives supporting the IRGC and the Iranian authorities extra broadly.

Company filings for the 2 exchanges additionally confirmed dormant accounts, a element that stood in sharp distinction to the large transaction volumes blockchain analysts traced by them.

The UK handed the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act in 2023, giving Companies House new authority to confirm the identities of administrators and examine that registered companies have been arrange for lawful functions.

The Zedxion case marks one of many extra seen makes use of of these powers.

Featured picture from Unsplash, chart from TradingView