US Targets Iranian Cryptocurrency Exchange BitBank Amid Wider Sanctions Efforts

The US Department of the Treasury launched 'Operation Economic Outcast' in August to isolate Iran's finances and target illicit revenue. This operation widened the reach of US secondary sanctions across five sectors, including digital assets.

On September 17, the Treasury announced sanctions on BitBank, an Iranian cryptocurrency exchange controlled by Babak Zanjani. Zanjani used the exchange to move hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Bitcoin to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in June and July.

The Treasury also found that Iran's Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority has been using BitBank since June to pass along payments from ships seeking safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. This is not an isolated incident, as a network run by Zanjani made roughly $850 million in transactions on Binance over two years.

Binance co-CEO Richard Teng called this reporting 'fundamentally inaccurate', but evidence suggests that Binance could have responded to suspicious activity on the associated accounts sooner. In fact, Binance was ordered to pay $4.3 billion after pleading guilty to violating US anti-money laundering and sanctions laws in 2023.