The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on Iranian cryptocurrency exchange BitBank, alleging that the platform helped transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which administers and enforces U.S. economic sanctions programs, announced the designations on September 17 as part of a broader U.S. campaign targeting Iran's financial and digital asset networks. Treasury identified BitBank as a digital asset venture controlled by Iranian financier Babak Zanjani, who was sentenced to death by an Iranian court in 2016 over his role in helping Iran circumvent international oil sanctions.

According to Treasury, Zanjani used BitBank between June and July to facilitate Bitcoin transfers worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the IRGC, an elite branch of Iran's armed forces that the U.S. government has designated as a foreign terrorist organization since 2019. The agency further alleged that BitBank helped process payments connected to Iran's Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority.

The designation extends a wider crackdown on Zanjani-linked cryptocurrency businesses. Treasury previously designated Zanjani and his digital asset ventures Zedcex and Zedxion in January, and expanded those measures in July to additional companies and individuals tied to his network.

BitBank Targeted Alongside Developer

Treasury also sanctioned BitBank's software developer, Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, along with three associates of Zanjani. According to the U.S. government, these companies and individuals form part of an infrastructure that allegedly supports sanctions evasion and transfers involving Iranian state-linked entities.

The sanctions block all property and interests in property belonging to the designated parties that fall under U.S. jurisdiction. U.S. persons are generally prohibited from conducting transactions involving blocked parties unless authorized by Treasury, a framework that makes screening against designated-party lists a baseline compliance task for exchanges and financial firms with U.S. exposure.

The action underscores Washington's growing focus on cryptocurrency exchanges in sanctions enforcement. U.S. authorities have increasingly targeted digital asset platforms that they say facilitate financial activity for sanctioned Iranian entities.

Broader Pressure on Iran's Crypto Network

The BitBank designation follows several other U.S. actions against Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges this year. Treasury has accused multiple platforms of helping Iran move funds outside traditional financial channels.

For the crypto industry, the case highlights the compliance risks facing exchanges that maintain links to sanctioned jurisdictions or counterparties. It also illustrates how blockchain-related businesses can become enforcement targets when U.S. authorities identify their transactions as part of sanctions-evasion networks.

Treasury's latest action places BitBank within that broader enforcement effort and adds another layer of pressure on Iran's cryptocurrency infrastructure.

Source: CryptoMeter io