US Treasury Sanctions Iran's Four Largest Crypto Exchanges, Targeting $7.8 Billion Shadow Economy

The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Nobitex — Iran's largest cryptocurrency exchange — along with three other Iranian digital asset platforms on Tuesday, targeting a shadow financial network officials say processed billions of dollars tied to terrorism financing, sanctions evasion, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The designations cover Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex — four exchanges that together accounted for the vast majority of Iranian digital asset inflows in 2025. OFAC also designated Nobitex's chairman, co-founder, and former CEO, Amir Hossein Rad, along with other platform executives, according to the Treasury press release.

The Scale of Iran's Crypto Shadow Economy

Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has estimated Iran's broader crypto infrastructure at roughly $7.8 billion. Until today's action, that network operated largely intact, with exchanges routing funds across jurisdictions despite earlier, more targeted US sanctions on specific wallets and transactions.

Nobitex alone processed more than 50% of all Iranian digital asset inflows in 2025, according to OFAC. The exchange facilitated payments tied to IRGC-affiliated ransomware actors, helped the Central Bank of Iran access hundreds of millions of dollars in stablecoins to prop up the plummeting rial, and — per Treasury — played a role in moving regime assets during internet blackouts that followed US combat operations in Iran.

The three additional exchanges fill out the picture:

• Wallex: Iran's second-largest crypto exchange by volume, receiving 12% of all Iranian digital asset inflows in 2025 and facilitating IRGC-linked transactions.
• Bitpin: 10% of inflows; its investor base includes individuals with reported ties to Iranian sanctions evasion efforts.
• Ramzinex: A Tehran-based exchange founded in 2018 that processed more than $2.45 billion in total transactions, including payments to a government-backed Iranian financial institution.

What the Designations Mean

Unlike earlier US actions that targeted individual wallets or specific transaction chains, this package goes after the exchange infrastructure itself. Under OFAC's counterterrorism authority (Executive Order 13224), all assets of the named entities within US jurisdiction are frozen, and US persons and companies are prohibited from transacting with them. Global exchanges risk secondary sanctions exposure for processing transactions involving any of the four platforms.

For Iranian crypto users, the practical impact is a further severing of legitimate cross-border payment rails — particularly for stablecoin access, which the regime had used to offset the rial's collapse.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the action as confirmation that the administration's maximum pressure campaign is working. "While Iran's economy is in free fall, the regime has chosen to co-opt digital asset technologies for its own corrupt agenda," Bessent said, "including evading sanctions and transferring wealth out of the country."

A $15 Million Bounty on IRGC Financing Networks

The State Department's Rewards for Justice program is separately offering up to $15 million for information leading to the disruption of the IRGC's financial mechanisms — a bounty that now covers the crypto networks named in today's designations.

The designations were made pursuant to Executive Orders 13224 and 13902, targeting Iran's counterterrorism exposure and financial sector. This is the most comprehensive crypto-focused sanctions package OFAC has leveled against Iran to date, moving from targeting wallets to targeting the exchanges themselves.