Treasury sanctions Iranian exchange BitBank for bitcoin transfers

Treasury officials announced that the Iranian cryptocurrency exchange BitBank was used by the previously sanctioned Hormuz Safe platform to move payments collected since June to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The move was uncovered during a routine review of sanctioned entities and highlights a new front in the U.S. effort to stop Iranian money‑laundering networks.

The U.S. has tightened sanctions on Iran’s financial system for years, targeting the IRGC’s network of banks, money‑transfer services and now crypto exchanges. Cryptocurrencies have become a popular tool for the IRGC to bypass U.S. restrictions, because they can move large sums quickly and anonymously. BitBank, which has operated in Iran since 2019, was added to the U.S. sanctions list in 2023 after evidence of its involvement in illicit transfers. The Treasury’s latest finding shows that the exchange is still being used to funnel bitcoin to the IRGC, undermining the U.S. sanctions regime.

Hormuz Safe, a platform that had already been sanctioned for facilitating Iranian sanctions evasion, reportedly collected payments from Iranian businesses and individuals through BitBank’s bitcoin wallet. Since June, those payments were routed to the IRGC’s accounts, a pattern that the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) identified through blockchain analytics. The exchange’s role was to convert local Iranian currency into bitcoin, transfer the funds to a wallet controlled by Hormuz Safe, and then move them to the IRGC’s accounts. This chain of transactions demonstrates how Iranian actors use multiple layers of crypto infrastructure to disguise the origin and destination of money.

In response, OFAC will likely add BitBank to its official sanctions list, prohibiting all U.S. persons from dealing with the exchange. The move will trigger enforcement actions against any U.S. firms that facilitate BitBank’s transactions, and could prompt other crypto exchanges to review their compliance. The U.S. aims to close the loophole that lets the IRGC continue to finance its operations through digital assets. The announcement signals a broader push to enforce sanctions on the growing crypto market and may pressure other countries to strengthen their own anti‑money‑laundering rules in the crypto space.