US Treasury’s OFAC sanctions 2 Iran-linked crypto exchanges

The US government sanctioned an individual and two crypto exchanges it said facilitated money laundering for a combined $5 million in digital assets linked to Iran.

The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against two digital asset exchanges it said that “the Iranian regime relies on to launder billions of dollars” amid military actions between the two countries. 

In a Friday notice, OFAC said it had taken measures against crypto exchanges Shelbit and Aban Tether for “facilitating illicit cryptocurrency activity and sanctions evasion,” using the proceeds to support Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The government agency also sanctioned Iranian national Siavash Kayvanpour and crypto wallets and companies tied to him, one of which operates Shelbit.

“We will continue to increase the economic pressure,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “Whether in dollars, rials, or crypto, Treasury will hunt down and dismantle the illicit financial networks that keep the regime afloat.”

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