Four Iranian Cryptocurrency Platforms Face US Treasury Sanctions
In its continued effort to restrict Iran's financial network access, the US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on Nobitex and three additional cryptocurrency exchanges.
Four cryptocurrency exchanges based in Iran have been hit with sanctions by the US Treasury, with Nobitex—the nation's biggest trading platform—among them. This action represents the most recent development in the "Economic Fury" initiative designed to isolate Iran from global financial systems.
According to the Treasury's announcement on Tuesday, Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex were included on the sanctions list maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, effectively barring American individuals and companies from offering any services to these platforms.
"While Iran's economy is in free fall, the regime has chosen to co-opt digital asset technologies for its own corrupt agenda, including evading sanctions and transferring wealth out of the country," said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
The Treasury's push to sever Iran's connection to financial networks represents a cornerstone of the "Economic Fury" campaign, which launched on April 14, several months after the Iran war started with coordinated US-Israeli military operations against the country in February.
The United States has conducted multiple strikes against Iran while simultaneously working toward brokering a ceasefire deal and settling a conflict concerning the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime passage through which approximately one-fifth of global oil supplies flow.
According to Bessent, shutting down Iran's nuclear programme stands among the Treasury's highest priorities.
"As promised, Treasury will continue to follow the money in support of Economic Fury, whether it is through the banking system or through digital assets, to prevent the regime from developing a nuclear weapon."
These newest sanctions follow Bessent's disclosure just four days earlier that the Treasury had confiscated close to $1 billion in cryptocurrency assets from Iranian digital currency exchanges and wallet addresses since hostilities with Iran commenced.
Nobitex the centerpiece of Iran's "digital dollar pipeline"
According to the Treasury, Nobitex, which operates as Iran's most prominent crypto exchange, has persistently enabled transactions for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps along with other entities already under sanctions.
Chainalysis, a blockchain forensics platform, reported on Tuesday that Nobitex sits at the heart of Iran's "digital dollar pipeline," processing approximately 50% of the country's crypto trading volume.
The Treasury has alleged that Nobitex has played a role in suppressing the Iranian population by enabling state-connected monitoring and surveillance of private citizens.
Both Nobitex's CEO, Seyed Ali Khoee, and chairman Amir Hossein Rad have been placed on OFAC's sanction list.
According to the Treasury, it has successfully blocked funding channels valued at "tens of billions of dollars" from reaching the Iranian regime and its affiliated proxy organizations.
This encompasses measures directed at purported shadow banking operations, along with foreign government officials and corporations attempting to facilitate Iran's petroleum commerce and military operations.