U.S. Sanctions Iranian Crypto Exchange BitBank Controlled by Babak Zanjani Over Hormuz Payments

The United States announced sanctions on an Iranian cryptocurrency exchange controlled by sanctioned Iranian financier Babak Zanjani, accusing BitBank of processing payments for ships to transit safely through the Strait of Hormuz.

“Treasury said BitBank had routed hundreds of millions of dollars to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps”

Reuters

Treasury said BitBank routed hundreds of millions of dollars to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and used the exchange to transfer funds paid to Iran's newly established Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority.

@coindesk

The sanctions freeze BitBank’s property under U.S. jurisdiction and threaten foreign institutions that process its transactions with exclusion from the U.S. financial system, though Treasury identified no cryptocurrency wallet addresses.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, "Today's designations of Iranian digital asset infrastructure make perfectly clear that efforts to finance the Iranian regime using cryptocurrencies are not beyond OFAC's reach," as the Office of Foreign Assets Control designated BitBank and its software developer, Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company.

Reuters reported the designation is part of Treasury's "Operation Economic Outcast" intended to isolate Iran economically and disrupt its global financial, commercial and logistical networks.

Alongside BitBank, the U.S. sanctioned Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, described as the software developer behind the exchange, and three close associates of Zanjani: Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein, and Seyed Adel Heidari.

CoinDesk said Treasury alleged BitBank moved hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and that Hormuz Safe began using BitBank to pass what it collected on to regime entities.C

Bitcoin Magazine

Benzinga quoted Bessent saying the new sanctions targeting a bitcoin exchange linked to Iranian financier Babak Zanjani showed crypto-based efforts to finance the Iranian regime would not escape Treasury’s reach.

The Block described the IRGC as an organization designated as a terrorist group by the U.S., European Union, and several other governments, framing the BitBank allegations as part of a broader U.S. crackdown on crypto platforms allegedly helping Iran evade sanctions.T

Reuters added that Zanjani has long been a key figure in Iran’s sanctions-evasion networks and that he was sentenced to death by Iranian authorities in 2016 for embezzlement, with his sentence commuted in 2024.

Treasury said Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority has charged tankers $1 million to $2 million for “safe passage” through the Strait of Hormuz, and that since June part of that money has moved through a cryptocurrency exchange in Tehran.

“Treasury said BitBank also processed some fees collected by Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, which has charged tankers $1 million to $2 million”

@coindesk

The U.S. Treasury said a designation means BitBank’s property in U.S. jurisdiction is frozen and Americans are barred from dealing with it, while the secondary sanctions tag attached to every name in Wednesday's action extends exposure to foreign firms.

CoinDesk and Cryptonews both described the mechanism as a payments flow tied to Hormuz Safe, with Cryptonews stating that Hormuz Safe began using BitBank to transfer collected funds to regime entities.C

The Times Australia framed the U.S. allegation as Iran turning the Strait of Hormuz into a toll gate by allegedly collecting payments from vessels seeking safe passage, while Reuters described the same action as targeting a digital assets-based sanctions-evasion infrastructure.

In the U.S. account, the stakes extend beyond a single exchange because the sanctions threaten foreign institutions that process BitBank flows with exclusion from the U.S. financial system, even without any American touching the transaction.