- The US Treasury sanctioned Iranian crypto exchange BitBank
- The action alleges the exchange moved hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps
- The sanctions bar US persons and institutions from transacting with the exchange
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Iranian cryptocurrency exchange BitBank this week, alleging the platform moved hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The action is listed among OFAC’s recent sanctions actions, the Treasury’s own official record of newly designated individuals, entities, and platforms.
A sanctions designation of this kind legally bars US persons and financial institutions from transacting with the named exchange, and typically extends to blocking any assets the entity holds that are within US jurisdiction. For a crypto exchange specifically, that usually means major US-regulated exchanges and custodians are expected to freeze or refuse transactions connected to sanctioned wallet addresses once the Treasury publishes them, which is one of the primary mechanisms sanctions enforcement relies on in the absence of the kind of centralized international banking system that traditional sanctions typically target.
Iran has operated under extensive US sanctions for years, including specific restrictions targeting the Revolutionary Guard, which the US government has designated as supporting activity ranging from regional military operations to weapons proliferation. Crypto exchanges based in sanctioned jurisdictions have increasingly become a Treasury enforcement focus, since they offer a channel for moving value across borders that can be harder to intercept than traditional wire transfers once funds have already moved on-chain.
BitBank has not issued a public response to the designation as of this reporting. Sanctioned exchanges based outside US jurisdiction often continue operating for users outside the reach of US enforcement, meaning the practical effect of a designation like this one falls mainly on cutting the exchange off from US-regulated counterparties and any assets it holds that touch the US financial system, rather than necessarily shutting the platform down entirely.
The action is consistent with a pattern of Treasury sanctions actions this year targeting crypto infrastructure used by sanctioned states and groups, part of a broader effort by US regulators to extend traditional sanctions enforcement into crypto rails as more value moves through them. Because OFAC designations typically list specific wallet addresses alongside the named entity, compliance teams at other exchanges can screen transaction histories directly against those addresses rather than relying solely on the exchange’s name or jurisdiction to flag exposure.
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