US authorities on Thursday announced sanctions against Iranian crypto exchange BitBank, accusing it of processing Bitcoin paid by ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said that as of June, the Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority used BitBank to transfer payments it received to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Treasury alleged it is part of the architecture used by Iranian financier Babak Zanjani to move hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to the IRGC.
Treasury has previously alleged Hormuz Safe is part of an IRGC-backed scheme forcing vessels to buy maritime insurance for passage, including coverage against seizures by Iran itself.
“Today’s designations of Iranian digital asset infrastructure make perfectly clear that efforts to finance the Iranian regime using cryptocurrencies are not beyond OFAC’s reach,” said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
The designation is the latest Treasury action aimed at isolating Iran from the international financial system, including through sanctions on digital asset exchanges.
The OFAC designations include BitBank, its developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company and three associates of Zanjani, with the Treasury calling them “key components of the Iranian regime’s digital assets-based sanctions evasion infrastructure.”
Cointelegraph reached out to BitBank for comment.
Iran’s BitBank is a separate entity from bitbank, inc, a fully licensed crypto exchange founded in 2014 in Japan, which was acquired by SBI Holdings in June. Treasury’s designation lists BitBank as having been established in 2024.
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In August, the US sanctioned two digital asset exchanges, Shelbit and Aban Tether, accusing them of assisting the Iranian regime in sanctions evasion. Treasury also sanctioned four crypto exchanges, including the country’s largest, Nobitex, in June.
In July, the US government ordered the freezing of more than $130 million in USDt held in wallets linked to Iran.
Iran has reportedly sought to mitigate the impact of tightening financial restrictions. Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported that Iran’s central bank eased foreign currency controls to encourage businesses to bring overseas earnings home, including through cryptocurrency, amid tightening US sanctions.
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