US sanctions Iranian crypto exchange and its software developer over alleged IRGC Bitcoin transfers

The US sanctioned Iranian crypto exchange BitBank, widening its campaign against digital-asset infrastructure allegedly used to finance the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).On Sept. 17, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said that the sanctioned Iranian financier Babak Zanjani used BitBank between June and July to facilitate hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin transfers to the IRGC.Treasury also said Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, previously sanctioned over an alleged maritime-payment scheme in the Strait of Hormuz, had used the exchange since June to move receipts to the Iranian government.The action reaches beyond BitBank to Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, which developed the exchange’s software, and three people tied to Zanjani’s broader corporate network. OFAC described the group as part of Iran’s digital-asset sanctions-evasion infrastructure and designated them under Executive Order 13902, which Treasury has expanded to cover Iran’s digital-asset sector.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the move demonstrates that crypto-based financing is “not beyond OFAC’s reach,” warning that parties supporting the Iranian ...