US Targets Iran-Linked Digital Assets Venture and Cryptocurrency Proceeds
The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has targeted BitBank, a digital assets venture controlled by an Iranian financier. The action is part of Operation Economic Outcast, aimed at disrupting the Iranian regime's use of cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions.
According to OFAC, Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority used BitBank to transfer payments received from black-market sales of sanctioned Iranian crude oil and petroleum products to the Iranian regime since June. The US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, stated that the designations 'make perfectly clear' that efforts to finance the Iranian regime using cryptocurrencies are within OFAC's reach.
A civil lawsuit has also been announced against approximately $61 million of cryptocurrency, allegedly the proceeds of a black-market sale of sanctioned crude oil and petroleum products. The US Attorney's Office accuses two Chinese companies of using cryptocurrency trading accounts to launder these proceeds back to the Iranian Government, which includes Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).