An unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange operating out of Dubai, Shelbit, has moved at least $4 billion since May 2024 on behalf of Iranian gambling operators and sanctioned state entities, according to a series of investigations corroborated by Reuters.

The findings identify Shelbit as the latest digital asset platform exposed as a conduit for circumventing international sanctions imposed on Tehran. It joins the ranks of Nobitex, the Iranian exchange blacklisted by the United States in June, and the oil-money network orchestrated by sanctioned tycoon Babak Zanjani. Each of these channels was uncovered through blockchain tracing by investigators. The cases collectively illustrate how cryptocurrency's borderless transfer mechanisms have become a recurring tool for entities seeking to move value outside the traditional banking system, where sanctions screening and correspondent-bank controls are far more mature.

Shelbit operated openly from a Dubai office under the management of Iranian expatriate Siavash Kayvanpour. Dubai has positioned itself as a global cryptocurrency hub since establishing the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in 2022, attracting numerous digital-asset firms, but the Shelbit case underscores the challenges regulators face when unlicensed operators function alongside a still-maturing oversight framework.

Shelbit's Largest Customer and Iranian Connections

According to investigators, Shelbit's biggest client was a Farsi-language online gambling operation spanning more than 2,000 websites. While gambling is illegal inside Iran and carries criminal penalties, the network maintained access to the country's central-bank-supervised payment rails. Blockchain records show tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency flowing from the gambling sites into Shelbit's wallets.

John Wojcik, a senior analyst at TRM Labs who spent seven years investigating illegal gambling for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, described it as "by far the biggest Iranian illegal gambling network ever discovered."

Two Iranian influencers with ties to the government publicly fronted the operation. Both individuals, together with Kayvanpour, were convicted in Iran during a 2023 illegal-gambling case.

Tracing the $4 Billion

From Shelbit's hub, hundreds of millions of dollars flowed onward to mainstream cryptocurrency platforms. At least $676 million reached Binance, the world's largest exchange. Approximately $540 million of that total was transferred after Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) fined Shelbit in 2025 for operating without a license.

Investigators also tracked funds moving in the opposite direction. Roughly $125 million originated from Iran's central bank, much of it sent directly, while an additional $20 million was traced to what two investigative firms identified as an Iranian bitcoin-mining operation producing newly minted coins. Iran legalized cryptocurrency mining in 2019 and briefly offered subsidized electricity to miners before reversing course amid power shortages and blackouts, making domestically mined coins a persistent channel for moving value abroad. Iran's central bank has been subject to US counterterrorism sanctions since 2019 due to its support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Binance's Compliance Response

Binance stated that Shelbit never opened an account on its platform and was not itself a sanctioned entity. The exchange did not dispute processing hundreds of millions of dollars for users connected to Shelbit but noted that an independent analytics firm had not flagged those transactions as high risk. Binance added that it investigated the associated users, froze the relevant accounts, and referred them to law enforcement.

Shelbit's wallets also interacted with entities already under scrutiny by Washington. The exchange had connections with Nobitex, sanctioned by the US Treasury earlier this year, and with wallets that the Israeli government has linked to the IRGC.

Investigators' Assessment

Rich Sanders, an independent blockchain researcher focused on Iran, stated: "It's an IRGC operation, and that's plain as day." Reuters, which built its investigation on interviews with more than 30 people including former IRGC affiliates and senior Iranian insiders, said it could not independently confirm that the Guard Corps directly controlled Shelbit or the gambling network.

In 2016, the United States dismantled an approximately $20 billion IRGC gold-for-oil scheme based in Turkey and seized roughly $1 billion in Iranian cryptocurrency in May of this year. More recently in July, the US and Tether froze approximately $131 million in USDT linked to Iran's central bank.

VARA ordered Shelbit to cease unlicensed activity in July, and observers are now watching for any potential action by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to add the exchange or its operator to the sanctions list. OFAC has increasingly used its authority to designate cryptocurrency entities tied to sanctioned jurisdictions, a step that would criminalize virtually all dollar-linked transactions with Shelbit and pressure global platforms to sever remaining ties.