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The United States announced sanctions against an Iranian cryptocurrency platform controlled by sanctioned financier Babak Zanjani, accusing it of processing payments for ships to safely transit the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. Treasury Department stated that BitBank channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and described the entity as a key component in Iran's infrastructure for sanctions evasion using digital assets.
The platform was used to transfer funds paid to the recently established Hormuz Safe Maritime Services Authority, the Treasury said in a statement.
Zanjani has long been a key figure in Iran's sanctions evasion networks. He was sentenced to death by Iranian authorities in 2016 for embezzlement; however, his sentence was commuted in 2024, and the following year, he reappeared as a promoter of economic projects for the Iranian government.
The designation is part of the Treasury Department's "Operation Economic Pariah," which aims to economically isolate Iran and dismantle its global financial, commercial, and logistical networks, according to the statement.
The strategy has focused on illicit oil trade, financial intermediaries, exchange houses, and shell companies in the maritime and aviation sectors.
The United States also sanctioned Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, the software developer behind BitBank, and three close associates of Zanjani: Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein, and Seyed Adel Heidari.
The Treasury Department announced sanctions against Zanjani and his two largest digital asset projects, Zedcex Exchange Limited and Zedxion Exchange Limited, in January, accusing them of money laundering for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In July, the United States imposed sanctions against nine other companies in which Zanjani is involved, including his Iran-based conglomerate "Dot One" and other firms located in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, as well as against senior executives of these companies.
"Through this combined infrastructure, Zanjani's companies have served as both public-facing commercial ventures and covert financial platforms enabling sanctions evasion and support for Iranian state-linked entities," the Treasury affirmed.
