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Ahmed Barakat
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Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs they tracked $3.84 billion in traffic from wallets connected to more than 60 Iranian institutions authorized through CoinEx since 2019, which shows the exchange as a major external channel of capital connected to Iran to the international crypto markets.
In total, $2.7 billion flowed mainly between CoinEx and Nobitex, Iran’s largest stock exchange, at an average of about $1 million per day since 2018. By any measure recorded, this is a large-redemption crypto-sanctions-evading pipeline built in Iran but known.
The TRM Labs report came three weeks after the US Treasury Department banned the killing of crypto in Iran as part of its Economic Fury campaign, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent personally confirming the seizure of $1 billion in crypto exchanges and Iranian wallets since the beginning of the war.
CoinEx is not part of the legal system. This gap, between what the blockchain data shows and what the enforcers have done, is the conflict that this report is making public. The Iran-CoinEx conflict it is now on the radar of the US Treasury.
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CoinEx’s 8% Illicit Rate Is 27x the Industry Benchmark
TRM Labs’ serial number is limited. CoinEx’s share of illegal volume is around 8%, versus 0.3% seen on regulated exchanges, a ratio of around 27 to one.
That number is not pretty; is the basis of TRM’s assessment that the CoinEx-Nobitex relationship reflects a “coercive arrangement rather than an organic one.”
His writing reinforces that reading. By 2024, CoinEx was the largest foreign partner of Nobitex by volume, almost six times more than the next largest exchange, which the TRM group called “unaffiliated with independent practices in the market.”
Major domestic exchanges in Iran move between 5% and 10% of their trading volume through CoinEx, a cross-platform parity that would not be possible if each exchange made independent decisions.
CoinEx-affiliated mining pool ViaBTC adds another layer. TRM Labs tracked $154 million in ViaBTC exposure to Nobitex through mining fees.
Additionally, ViaBTC provided emergency funding to Nobitex following the Predatory Sparrow hack in June 2025, a $90 million breach that left Nobitex under pressure. The cooperative mining group that enters as a legal depository is not an accidental process.
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Nobitex Was On The Way, CoinEx Was On The Way Out
Pipeline design is straightforward. Official Iranian institutions, including wallets linked to the IRGC and organizations tied to Iran’s financial system, moved funds to Nobitex, which held about 50% of Iran’s crypto trading volume, according to a June 2 Chainalysis report.
Nobitex then exported money through CoinEx, which provided access to international currencies and the ability to convert to dollar-equivalent currencies that would not be subject to Iranian sanctions.
This has been going on since 2018 on the CoinEx-Nobitex corridor, and since 2019 for the entire universe of TRM Labs official organizations are being followed. The political visibility of Nobitex exacerbated the problem: in May 2026, the exchange was linked to members of a powerful family with ties to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, meaning that the pipeline worked at the core of the Iranian state, not just commercial traders looking for dollar opportunities.
Other exchange transfers from Nobitex’s overseas channels are also important. CoinEx acquired Binance as Nobitex’s main foreign partner by 2024, after Binance faced pressure from the US. This change clearly shows how the opponents’ push for a particular position is followed without interruption: the pressure on one exchange does not eliminate its importance, it redistributes it.
CoinEx Denies Government Ties. On-Chain Data Is Not Consensus.
CoinEx declined on X following the TRM Labs report, stating that it has no business relationship with the Iranian government or domestic exchange in Iran and has never provided funding options to authorized parties.
The exchange also contradicted the translation policy of TRM Labs directly, saying that “the exit of the onchain fund does not indicate knowledge of the platform or participation in illegal activities.”
Refusal to respond to contractual obligations; The TRM Labs report is in progress. This is not a uniform set of references, and the distinction is important.
Disclosure of OFAC sanctions does not require evidence of commercial cooperation – it is required to demonstrate control of activities involving the affected parties.
Whether CoinEx knew what was behind the wallets that moved $3.84 billion through its platform is the next question. That trend was 27 times the amount of volume unrelated to the exchange associated with the data center leading the question.
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