The US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has been appointed NobitexIran’s largest digital currency exchange, and three other Iranian crypto platforms on Tuesday, signaled that the Trump administration is cracking down on Tehran’s financial infrastructure.
Nobitex processed more than 50% of all Iranian goods imported by 2025, according to OFAC, and has served as a means of financing payments to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, rescue operations, and trying to protect the regime’s finances during the blackout that followed the US war in Iran, according to the Treasury. to release.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in announcing the move, pointed to Iran’s economic collapse as proof that the administration’s more repressive approach is working.
“Even though Iran’s economy is in free fall, the government has chosen to use digital technologies for their fraudulent activities,” Bessent said, “including evading sanctions and transferring wealth abroad.”
The mention goes beyond one platform. Wallex, the world’s second largest crypto exchange by volume, received 12% of all Iranian assets in 2025 and controlled transactions linked to the IRGC.
Bitpin, which captured 10% of its revenue, counts investors who are united against Iran’s efforts to evade sanctions among its supporters.
Ramzinex, a Tehran-based exchange launched in 2018, has managed more than $2.45 billion in total transactions, including payments to Iran’s state-backed financial institution.
Iran vs. US rocky economy and crypto relationship
The development comes at a time when the growth of Iran’s shadow crypto economy has become a major concern for US national security officials. Iran’s extensive crypto infrastructure has been estimated at about $7.8 billion, and blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. you have connected Nobitex to the network of wallets and systems that are compatible with the financial activities of the IRGC.
In April 2026, Tether he froze $344.2 million that was stored in two wallets attributed to the Central Bank of Iran – wallets with registered ties to the IRGC-Qods Force and Hizballah – which TRM Labs described as the coldest of the Iranian identification storage cables recorded.
Repeat he told Fox Business last month that the US now seized about $1 billion in Iranian cryptocurrency.
What separates Tuesday’s action from previous sanctions is the appointment of Nobitex’s leadership. OFAC named Amir Hossein Rad – chairman, co-founder, and former CEO – for helping to restructure Nobitex’s operations after a $90 million hack in June 2025.
The nominees were two co-founders who were identified as members of the Kharrazi family, which resides within the former group of Supreme Leader Khamenei, and the current CEO, Seyed Ali Khoee.
The designations show that people need to be held accountable rather than focusing on platforms alone – an approach that experts say carries too much weight because it threatens authorities with freezes and other sanctions.
The US maintains two main laws
Treasury requested two authorizations: EO 13224, an anti-terrorist agency, and EO 13902, which targets individuals operating in Iran. Both positions have the same effect – all US interests of listed entities and individuals are prohibited, and a foreign company or financial institution that continues to do business with them may be at risk of further sanctions.
The question that legal experts across the industry are watching is whether the SDN listings will force stablecoin providers and foreign exchanges to limit Iranian users on a large scale.
OFAC explained already this year that the Iranian digital economy murder is considered prohibited financial institutions regardless of appearing on the SDN list – but clearly the SDN name causes the second sanctions for any party in the world and provides stablecoin providers to directly justify the rules freezes a lot.
Treasury too he warned that any person or company that facilitates payments through the Strait of Hormuz – whether in fiat, digital currency, or a fictitious exchange – would be at risk. On May 27, 2026, OFAC designated Iran’s so-called “Persian Gulf Strait Authority,” an IRGC-linked system for seizing international shipping.
