US Imposes Sanctions on Iranian Crypto Exchange BitBank

10:15 - 18.09.2026


September 18, Fineko/abc.az. The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added the Iranian digital asset exchange BitBank, along with affiliated individuals and entities, to its sanctions list for enabling Iranian sanctions evasion. The exchange is controlled by previously sanctioned Iranian financier Babak Zanjani.

Executed under "Operation Economic Outcast," the sanctions target BitBank, its software developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, and three executives associated with Zanjani. According to U.S. officials, BitBank served as a primary mechanism to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and launder illicit revenues from maritime operations.