US Sanctions Iranian Crypto Network as OFAC Targets Digital-Asset Evasion

 The United States has expanded its sanctions campaign against Iran’s digital-asset sector, designating a cryptocurrency exchange, its software developer and three individuals over alleged involvement in sanctions evasion and the movement of funds to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

 The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated BitBank, described by Treasury as a digital-asset venture controlled by already sanctioned Iranian financier Babak Zanjani, on September 17, 2026.

 The action also targeted BitBank’s developer, Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, and three associates of Zanjani: Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein and Seyed Adel Heidari.

 Treasury said the targets form part of an Iranian digital-asset network used to facilitate sanctions evasion and move funds to the Iranian regime.

 The allegations centre on the movement of cryptocurrency through BitBank. According to Treasury, Zanjani used the exchange between June and July to facilitate the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to the IRGC.

 Treasury also said the previously sanctioned Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority had used BitBank since June to transfer payments it received to the Iranian regime.

 The designation places cryptocurrency infrastructure firmly within the scope of U.S. sanctions enforcement and highlights the growing compliance exposure for digital-asset exchanges, financial institutions and other businesses dealing with sanctioned counterparties.

 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the action demonstrated that cryptocurrency does not sit outside OFAC’s enforcement reach.

 “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,” Bessent said.

 The measures were imposed under Executive Order 13902 and form part of the administration’s broader Operation Economic Outcast campaign.

 For compliance teams, the action reinforces the need to treat digital assets as part of mainstream sanctions-risk management rather than as a separate or lower-risk payment channel.

 The latest designations also illustrate the increasingly network-based approach to sanctions enforcement. OFAC is not limiting its focus to a cryptocurrency platform itself; the action extends to a supporting technology provider and individuals connected to the wider financial network.

 That approach raises the compliance stakes for exchanges and service providers conducting due diligence on counterparties, beneficial ownership, transaction flows and exposure to sanctioned digital-asset infrastructure.

 The BitBank designation follows earlier U.S. actions against Iranian digital-asset exchanges, including Nobitex, underscoring Washington’s focus on the infrastructure through which digital assets can move across borders and potentially circumvent conventional financial controls.