US Sanctions BitBank, Zanjani-Linked Crypto Exchange, Over Hormuz Transit Payments
Washington blacklisted BitBank, an Iranian crypto exchange tied to financier Babak Zanjani, over alleged IRGC funding and Strait of Hormuz transit payments.
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on BitBank, an Iranian cryptocurrency exchange controlled by the sanctioned financier Babak Zanjani, accusing it of processing payments that allowed ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz safely.
The Treasury Department said the exchange had routed hundreds of millions of dollars to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and described it as a central piece of Iran's digital-asset-based sanctions-evasion infrastructure. According to the department, BitBank was used to move funds paid to Iran's newly established Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority.
Zanjani has been a recurring figure in Iranian sanctions-evasion networks. Iranian authorities sentenced him to death in 2016 on embezzlement charges, but the sentence was commuted in 2024. The following year he reappeared as a backer of Iranian government economic projects.
Alongside BitBank, the Treasury sanctioned Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, the software developer behind the exchange, and three close associates of Zanjani: Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein and Seyed Adel Heidari.
The action is part of "Operation Economic Outcast," a Treasury strategy aimed at isolating Iran economically and disrupting its global financial, commercial and logistical networks. The campaign has previously targeted Iran's illicit oil trade, financial intermediaries, exchange houses, and shipping, aviation and front companies.
Washington had already sanctioned Zanjani and his two largest digital asset projects, Zedcex Exchange Limited and Zedxion Exchange Limited, in January, accusing them of laundering money for the IRGC. In July, the US blacklisted nine other firms linked to Zanjani, including his Iran-based "Dot One" conglomerate and companies based in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, as well as senior executives at those firms.
"Through this combined infrastructure, Zanjani's enterprises have served as both public-facing commercial ventures and covert financial platforms enabling sanctions evasion and support to Iranian state-linked entities," the Treasury said.