US imposes sanctions on Iranian crypto exchange BitBank

The United States has imposed sanctions on Iranian cryptocurrency exchange BitBank, a company controlled by sanctioned Iranian financier Babak Zanjani. The Treasury Department alleged that BitBank facilitated payments for vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The exchange is reported to have transferred millions of dollars to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, making it a key part of Iran's digital currency-based evasion of sanctions.

According to the Treasury, BitBank was utilized to transfer funds sent to Iran's Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority. Babak Zanjani, a prominent figure in Iran's sanctions-avoidance networks for years, received a death sentence in 2016 for embezzlement, which was later reduced to life imprisonment in 2024. He has since returned as a supporter of Iranian government economic initiatives.

This sanction, part of Treasury's Operation Economic Outcast, is aimed at isolating Iran economically and disrupting its global financial, commercial, and logistical networks. The strategy has targeted Iran's illicit oil trade, financial entities, money changers, and shipping, aviation, and front companies. Additionally, the US sanctioned Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, the software developer behind BitBank, and three close associates of Zanjani: Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein, and Seyed Adel Heidari.

Earlier this year, the Treasury Department sanctioned Zanjani alongside his two largest digital asset platforms, Zedcex Exchange Limited and Zedxion Exchange Limited, for allegedly laundering money for the IRGC.