BitBank Sanctioned Over Alleged Bitcoin Transfers to Iran’s…

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Iranian cryptocurrency exchange BitBank on September 17, alleging the platform was used to move hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The action also names BitBank's software developer, Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, and three associates of Iranian financier Babak Zanjani: Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein and Seyed Adel Heidari. Treasury describes BitBank as a digital asset venture controlled by Zanjani, who has been sanctioned previously, and says he used the exchange during June and July to facilitate the bitcoin transfers to the IRGC. Pishtaz Simorgh is a subsidiary of the already-designated Dot One Value Creation Group, while the three individuals are identified as executives or associates within Zanjani's wider business network.

"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," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. "If you support the Iranian regime, the Department of the Treasury will sanction you."

Shipping payments and a widening list

Treasury linked BitBank to Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, a previously sanctioned Iranian digital platform connected to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. According to the agency, Hormuz Safe has used BitBank since June to transfer payments it collected. Treasury has described Hormuz Safe as a digital maritime services business that accepts bitcoin and other digital assets for services involving vessels transiting the strait, a connection that extends the case beyond a single exchange.

BitBank is the latest crypto platform targeted in a run of U.S. sanctions actions against Iranian digital asset businesses in 2026. OFAC sanctioned Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex in June, saying Nobitex accounted for more than half of Iranian digital asset inflows during 2025 and processed transactions linked to the IRGC and other sanctioned entities. In August the agency designated Shelbit and Aban Tether, accusing Aban Tether of handling transactions involving previously sanctioned Iranian exchanges and linking Shelbit to money flows tied to online gambling operations. The September action falls under Operation Economic Outcast, a Treasury campaign launched on August 24.

OFAC designation requires that property and interests in property of the named parties located in the U.S. or held by U.S. persons be blocked and reported. Entities owned 50% or more, directly or indirectly, by blocked persons may also be treated as blocked even if not separately listed, sharpening counterparty and ownership screening for exchanges, custodians and compliance providers.