U.S. sanctions Iran’s largest digital asset platform and three peers, blocking $7.8 billion infrastructure
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Nobitex, Iran’s largest digital asset exchange, and three other Iranian crypto platforms on Tuesday, marking the Trump administration’s sharpest blow yet to Tehran’s digital financial infrastructure.
OFAC also sanctioned the executives of Nobitex, including chairman and co-founder Amir Hossein Rad and current CEO Seyed Ali Khoee. The Kharrazi family, co-founders of Nobitex and members of former Supreme Leader Khamenei’s inner circle, were also designated.
The three additional platforms are Wallex, Iran’s second-largest crypto exchange by volume; Bitpin; and Ramzinex, a Tehran-based exchange founded in 2018. Treasury invoked Executive Order 13224, targeting counterterrorism, and Executive Order 13902, which targets persons operating in Iran’s financial sector.
SDN designations block all U.S. property interests of named entities and individuals and expose foreign companies and financial institutions continuing business with them to secondary sanctions. OFAC clarified that Iranian digital asset exchanges are considered blocked financial institutions regardless of SDN listing status.
“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,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the designation announcement.
Nobitex processed more than 50% of all Iranian digital asset inflows in 2025, according to Treasury. The exchange served as a conduit for payments tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, ransomware operations, and attempts to shield regime wealth during internet blackouts following U.S. combat operations in Iran. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic linked Nobitex to a network of wallets and behaviors consistent with IRGC financial activity.
Wallex received 12% of all Iranian digital asset inflows in 2025 and facilitated IRGC-linked transactions. Bitpin captured 10% of Iranian digital asset inflows in 2025 and counts investors with reported ties to Iranian sanctions evasion efforts among its backers. Ramzinex processed more than $2.45 billion in total transactions and handled payments for a government-backed Iranian financial institution.
The designations target an estimated $7.8 billion in Iran’s broader crypto infrastructure. In April 2026, stablecoin issuer Tether froze $344.2 million held across two wallets attributed to the Central Bank of Iran, with documented ties to IRGC-Qods Force and Hizballah, described by blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs as the largest on-chain freeze of Iranian sovereign crypto reserves on record.
Bessent stated that the U.S. has seized approximately $1 billion in Iranian cryptocurrency. Treasury warned that any person or company facilitating passage payments through the Strait of Hormuz in fiat, digital assets, or informal swaps risks sanctions.
The action follows OFAC’s May 27 designation of Iran’s “Persian Gulf Strait Authority” and comes months after Nobitex suffered a $90 million hack in June 2025.
