US Authorities Announce Sanctions Against Iranian Crypto Exchange BitBank Over Alleged Bitcoin (BTC) Transfers to the IRGC

US officials have added an Iranian digital asset platform to the sanctions list, saying it helped move large bitcoin payments tied to Tehran’s security apparatus.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the designations on September 17, 2026, as part of Operation Economic Outcast, a broader campaign aimed at cutting off financial channels used by the Iranian government and its affiliates.

OFAC named BitBank as a priority digital-asset venture controlled by Babak Zanjani, an Iranian financier already on the US sanctions list.

Officials said Zanjani used the platform between June and July to arrange bitcoin transfers worth hundreds of millions of dollars that ultimately reached the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The same announcement said Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, which OFAC had already designated, has used BitBank since June to pass along payments it collected to Iranian authorities.

The package did not stop with the exchange.

Treasury also designated Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, which it identified as the developer of BitBank’s software and a subsidiary of Dot One Value Creation Group, another previously sanctioned firm.

Three people linked to Zanjani were listed as well: Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein, and Seyed Adel Heidari.