US sanctions Tehran's BitBank over bitcoin transfers to Iran's IRGC

OFAC designated Tehran-based cryptocurrency exchange BitBank on Thursday, saying the platform moved hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps between June and July under Executive Order 13902, which reaches Iran's digital asset sector.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control described BitBank as a priority digital assets venture controlled by Babak Zanjani, an Iranian financier the Treasury designated in January. The action also covers Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, which built BitBank's software and is a subsidiary of the already-designated Dot One Value Creation Group, along with three Dot One executives: Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein and Seyed Adel Heidari.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said efforts to fund the Iranian regime with cryptocurrency are "not beyond OFAC's reach." OFAC published no wallet addresses alongside the designation.

Since June, Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority has used BitBank to pass collections on to regime entities, according to Treasury. Hormuz Safe, the body Tehran uses to sell ships safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, was itself sanctioned in July. The Hormuz platform surfaced publicly in May, when Iranian reports said it targeted $10 billion in revenue from bitcoin-settled maritime insurance.

Thursday's designations fall under Operation Economic Outcast, the campaign Bessent announced on Aug. 24 as a continuation of Economic Fury. Under Economic Fury, OFAC sanctioned Nobitex and three other Iranian exchanges in June and added Shelbit and Aban Tether in August.