US Blacklists Iran's Top Crypto Exchange Over IRGC Sanctions Evasion

The United States imposed sanctions on Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Nobitex, and three other digital asset platforms on Tuesday, accusing them of operating a parallel financial network that channels funds to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and helps the government bypass Western restrictions. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also blacklisted Bitpin, Ramzinex and Wallex, along with several senior figures at Nobitex, including its chairman, co-founder and chief executive. The move marks a significant escalation in Washington’s “Economic Fury” campaign, launched by President Donald Trump to intensify pressure on Tehran’s economy.

In its announcement, the Treasury asserted that Nobitex alone processed more than half of all digital asset inflows into Iran in 2025, facilitating payments linked to “terrorist activity” and sanctions evasion. The action follows a Reuters investigation published in early May, which detailed how the exchange became a central hub for moving hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of the Central Bank of Iran and the IRGC, even during state-imposed internet blackouts. “While Iran’s economy is in free fall, the regime has chosen to co-opt digital asset technologies for its own corrupt agenda,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote on social media, vowing that the department would pursue money flows whether through the formal financial system or digital assets.

Viewed from Tehran, the designations were dismissed as a continuation of long-standing hostile measures. The Iranian news agency Mehr described the sanctions as “repeating longstanding allegations” and noted they come despite ongoing diplomatic overtures from Washington. Officials in Iran have not yet publicly responded in detail, but the timing is abrasive: Tehran earlier this month suspended indirect talks with the United States over Israel’s military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, a move that has raised the stakes in a fraught diplomatic landscape.

Russian coverage, reflecting Moscow’s close interests in Iran, reported the Treasury’s specific claim that Nobitex accounted for over 50 per cent of Iran’s crypto inflows, a figure that underscores the scale of the operation. Analysts in London say the sanctions are designed to close off one of the last remaining channels for Iran to access the international financial system, but they caution that the adaptability of crypto markets means new platforms could quickly emerge. The broader question remains whether economic coercion alone can achieve Washington’s stated goals of zero enrichment and an end to Tehran’s regional military entanglements, or whether it will merely harden Iranian resistance as the economic squeeze intensifies.