US Sanctions Iranian Crypto Exchange for Helping Regime Evade Sanctions

The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned an Iranian cryptocurrency exchange called BitBank for helping the country's regime evade sanctions and move funds to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

According to the Treasury, BitBank is controlled by Babak Zanjani, a previously designated Iranian financier who was sentenced to death in Iran in 2016 for embezzling millions from the National Iranian Oil Company.

Zanjani's network has been using BitBank to move hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Bitcoin to the IRGC since June this year. The Treasury also identified several associates of Zanjani, including Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein and Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein, who are executives at a company called Dot One Value Creation Group.

The sanctions aim to cut off financial channels supporting Iran's regime as part of 'Operation Economic Outcast.' Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that anyone supporting the Iranian regime will face sanctions, saying 'If you support the Iranian regime, the Department of the Treasury will sanction you.'