US Treasury Sanctions Iranian Crypto Exchanges and Key Figure

The US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on two Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges, Shelbit and Aban Tether, along with Siavash Kayvanpour, a key figure behind a network of companies involved in illicit crypto activity.

The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the sanctions on August 7, accusing the network of assisting in the evasion of sanctions and linkages to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The network allegedly enabled the transfer and anonymization of digital assets linked to the IRGC and played a role in sanctions-evasion activities. Shelbit processed tens of millions of dollars in digital assets linked to an online gambling website in Persian, which were used to mask the source of the money.