Crypto
US Sanctions Iranian Crypto Exchange for Alleged Bitcoin Transfers to Revolutionary Guards
The US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on an Iranian cryptocurrency exchange called BitBank and its developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronics, as well as three associates of financier Babak Zanjani. The sanctions target alleged efforts to evade US sanctions by transferring hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Bitcoin to Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
The Treasury Department claims that BitBank was a key component of infrastructure used by Zanjani to launder funds and transfer money to Iranian state-linked entities.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated, 'Today's designations of Iranian digital asset infrastructure make perfectly clear that efforts to finance the Iranian regime using cryptocurrencies are not beyond OFAC's reach.'