US Sanctions Shelbit for Facilitating Iran's Illicit Economy
On August 7, 2026, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Shelbit, its founder Siavash Kayvanpour, and a network of affiliated entities across the UAE, Poland, and Georgia. The action was taken due to transfers between Shelbit and IRGC-controlled wallets and Shelbit's role in laundering proceeds from an Iranian gambling network.
TRM Labs has traced more than USD 6.3 billion in blockchain flows through Shelbit, an unlicensed Dubai-registered cryptocurrency exchange, between May 2024 and March 2026. The majority of activity, approximately 88%, moved on TRON, almost entirely in dollar-pegged stablecoins.
Shelbit rebuilt its wallet infrastructure every one to four months across two years of operation, a rotation pattern consistent with deliberate efforts to limit traceability. Direct exposure of approximately USD 5.6 million was identified across 36 transfers to wallets associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Shelbit entity has presented as inactive since its website no longer functions, but there is no indication that the sanctions evasion and terrorism financing it supported has ceased.