The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has moved against digital asset exchanges that the Iranian regime allegedly relies on to launder billions of doll
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has moved against digital asset exchanges that the Iranian regime allegedly relies on to launder billions of dollars, maintain covert access to international financial systems, and support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The latest action, announced on Friday, adds two more platforms to a growing list of sanctioned entities linked to Tehran.
OFAC designated Georgia-based Shelbit Exchange and Iran-based Aban Tether, alongside Shelbit's operator Siavash Kayvanpour and a web of front companies spanning the UAE, Poland, and Georgia. According to Treasury, the action follows a Reuters investigation published on July 31 that identified Shelbit as the hub of a $4 billion Iranian sanctions evasion scheme, finding that it moved crypto on behalf of Iran's central bank, one of the world's largest illegal online gambling networks, and to addresses linked by the Israeli government to the IRGC.
Treasury alleges IRGC wallets moved over $1 million into Shelbit and received more than $2 million back, with tens of millions from a Persian-language gambling network laundered through the platform. Iranian actors exploited unlicensed or lightly regulated digital currency exchange platforms to transfer large volumes of digital assets, executing the scheme through sprawling corporate networks and an extensive online gambling enterprise that obscured the origin of funds.
Aban Tether is accused of processing millions of dollars worth of transactions involving previously designated Iranian digital asset exchanges, including Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex.Those four platforms were designated by OFAC on June 2, 2026, under Executive Orders 13224 and 13902 on counterterrorism and Iran financial sector authorities.
The UAE's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) issued enforcement actions against Shelbit's Dubai arm in January 2025 and July 2026, but the entity remained in business.Treasury also sanctioned Kayvanpour personally for providing material support to the IRGC and Nobitex, Iran's largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Shelbit, for its part, said it "categorically rejects any suggestion that the company knowingly participated in money laundering, terrorist financing, illegal gambling activity, sanctions evasion, or activity on behalf of any sanctioned, military, or governmental organization."The exchange also said it had ceased operations in January 2026.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement: "Treasury will hunt down and dismantle the illicit financial networks that keep the regime afloat."OFAC has now demonstrated that it will designate entities at every layer of Iran's digital asset infrastructure, including sovereign reserve wallets, domestic exchange platforms, foreign-registered exchange proxies, and individual executives.
Sources:U.S. Department of the Treasury: Treasury Sanctions Crypto Exchanges Funding Iran's IRGCReuters via US News: US Sanctions Dubai Crypto Exchange for Aiding Iran's IRGCCrystal Intelligence: Crypto Sanctions Screening, OFAC Targets Iran Exchanges
