US Blacklists Bitbank Amid Sanctions Efforts Targeting Iranian Crypto Networks

The US Treasury has blacklisted Iranian crypto exchange Bitbank and its software developer, Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company. This move is part of a wider effort to disrupt networks used by Iran to smuggle oil, evade sanctions, and fund terrorism.

Treasury alleges that financier Babak Zanjani used Bitbank to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite branch of Iran's armed forces. This is not the first time Zanjani has been sanctioned - he was designated by OFAC in January for operating in Iran's financial sector.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also sanctioned three Zanjani associates: Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein, and Seyed Adel Heidari. These individuals are executives at Dot One Value Creation Group, a company tied to Zanjani.