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- US sanctions Nobitex, citing alleged links to sanctioned Iranian entities.
- Treasury also targets Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex in crackdown.
- Recent crypto seizures highlight growing focus on Iran’s networks.
The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned Nobitex, Iran’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, for allegedly helping to conduct transactions with sanctioned entities and terrorist financing networks. The action is one of the biggest escalations in the Trump administration’s Economic Fury campaign targeting Tehran’s financial infrastructure. The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Nobitex and some of its top executives. Treasury officials said the exchange was involved in significant Iran sanctions violations and transactions with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran’s military force.
According to the Office of Foreign Assets Control at Treasury, Nobitex handled over 50% of all financial transactions in Iranian digital assets in 2025. The platform also allowed financial transactions with sanctioned entities and individuals, the officials said. The sanctions are not limited to the exchange. Amir Hossein Rad, the current CEO Seyed Ali Khoee and co-founders Ali and Mohammad Kharrazi were appointed as chairman and co-founder. U.S. authorities suspect these were the people who ran the exchange as it developed. Last month, a Reuters investigation shed light on the platform. No more than a few hundred million dollars were channeled through Nobitex with the funds belonging to sanctioned Iranian entities, according to Reuters.
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Treasury expands sanctions across Iran’s crypto sector
In addition to Nobitex, Treasury also sanctioned three other Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges. These companies include Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex. Authorities claimed that these sites helped the IRGC and other banned entities to carry out transactions. In a statement, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iran has been increasingly using digital assets to circumvent economic sanctions restrictions.
Authorities in Tehran have employed cryptocurrency infrastructure to move money and facilitate illegal financial transactions, he said. Further, Treasury said that foreign institutions dealing with sanctioned exchanges may be subject to further restrictions. That warning broadens the potential impact of the measures beyond Iran’s borders.
Recent crypto seizures add to pressure campaign
The sanctions come as the U.S. officials revealed significant cryptocurrency takedowns involving Iranian cryptocurrency. Last week, Bessent said that the United States had taken about $1 billion worth of Iranian cryptocurrency assets. Treasury’s recent sanctions news release, however, referred to previous reporting of almost $500m in seised digital assets. Either way the revelations are yet more evidence of the increasing importance of cryptocurrency in the game of sanctions enforcement.
Nobitex is a big name in Iran’s digital asset market for a long time. The exchange has been called a crucial hub for cryptocurrency transactions in the nation by blockchain intelligence companies and compliance experts. The site itself has been subject to years of investigation by lawmakers and analytics companies, both of whom have kept it off the sanctions list until this week’s announcement. It was a significant player in Iran’s crypto sphere, and that’s why it was a target for U.S. officials.
Washington increases scrutiny of crypto platforms
Further, the recent action reflects the shift in Washington’s interest in digital asset platforms it considers to be associated with limited financial networks. Cryptocurrency exchanges’ interactions with sanctioned jurisdictions and organisations have been under the microscope of regulators more and more. The sanctions against Nobitex are among the toughest measures imposed against Iran’s cryptocurrency industry. For the U.S. officials, major exchanges are important elements of financial systems that are essential to transfer funds across the borders.
These measures may make it more difficult for cryptocurrency companies to comply, both inside and outside Iran. The action also indicates that digital asset exchanges continue to be a key priority for U.S. sanctions enforcement. The new sanctions are a significant step up in Washington’s economic war against Iran. U.S. officials are stepping up the pressure on cryptocurrency networks which are thought to serve sanctioned individuals, exchanges like Nobitex, and its executives.
Also Read: Bitcoin Near Key Bottom Signal as Decade-Long Metric Flashes Again
