U.S. Treasury Sanctions Iranian Crypto Exchanges Including Nobitex

The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted several Iranian crypto exchanges, including its largest platform Nobitex, on Tuesday as part of its ongoing campaign against the Iranian government. The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control announced that Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex, as well as some of these exchanges' executives, were being added to its global Specially Designated Nationals list, barring any U.S. entities or businesses and people who use the U.S. dollar financial system from providing any financial services with the platforms.

The announcement came just days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said his department had seized around $1 billion in crypto from Iranian exchanges and wallets since the beginning of the war against Iran. "While Iran's economy is in free fall, the regime has chosen to co-opt digital asset technologies for its own corrupt agenda, including evading sanctions and transferring wealth out of the country. Iran's current economic chaos is proof that President Trump's maximum pressure campaign has been a success," Bessent said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Treasury Department alleges Nobitex processed more than 50% of all Iranian digital asset inflows in 2025 and facilitated payments tied to Iran's terrorist activities, sanctions evasion efforts, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-linked transactions, including IRGC-affiliated ransomware actors. The exchange also helped the Central Bank of Iran access hundreds of millions of dollars in stablecoins used to prop up the plummeting value of the Iranian rial, the Treasury alleged in the sanctions announcement.

Nobitex also helped move assets out of Iran after the U.S. began bombing it earlier this year, the press release said. The announcement linked Tuesday's action to Nobitex's alleged association with "Iran's terrorist activities, sanctions evasion efforts and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-linked transactions," which included ransomware payments.

Wallex, Iran's second-largest digital asset exchange by volume, received 12% of Iranian digital asset inflows in 2025. Bitpin, which accounts for 10% of such inflows, faced sanctions for having investors reportedly linked to Iranian sanctions evasion efforts. Ramzinex, a Tehran-based digital asset exchange founded in 2018, processed over $2.45 billion in transactions.

The Treasury Department also sanctioned four individuals connected to Nobitex, including chairman and co-founder Amir Hossein Rad, who helped reconstitute operations following a $90 million hack in June 2025. Two co-founders, Seyed Mohammad Ali Aghamir and Seyed Mohammad Aghamir Mohammad Ali, are members of the Kharrazi family, part of Supreme Leader Khamenei's inner circle. Current Nobitex CEO Seyed Ali Khoee, who previously served as director of product and marketing, was also designated.

Speaking Friday at the 2026 Reagan National Economic Forum in Simi Valley, California, Bessent told Fox Business Network's Larry Kudlow that the U.S. government has seized vast sums of cryptocurrency from entities linked to Iran's military since the war broke out in February. "I believe that we have seized about $1 billion of their crypto," he said, noting some actors may not even know the funds are gone. A great week for chain sleuths, a rougher one for the rest of the market.

In April, Tether froze $344.2 million in stablecoins held across two wallets attributed to the Central Bank of Iran. "As promised, Treasury will continue to follow the money in support of Economic Fury, whether it is through the banking system or through digital assets, to prevent the regime from developing a nuclear weapon," Bessent said in the Treasury statement.

The Treasury Department said the sanctions actions were part of its broader campaign against Iran. "Additionally, Treasury recently warned of the sanctions risk associated with complying with Iranian demands for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, such as 'toll' payments, including payments made via fiat currency, digital assets, offsets, informal swaps, or other in-kind payments such as nominally charitable donations, and providing sensitive vessel information," the press release said.