The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned BitBank, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Tehran, alleging that the platform transferred hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and handled money collected from vessels seeking passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has charged tankers between $1 million and $2 million this year for crossing the strategic waterway, according to the Treasury. Since June, some of those payments have allegedly been processed through BitBank.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control said Thursday that it had designated BitBank, which was established in Tehran in 2024, as well as Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, the software developer behind the exchange.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the action shows that U.S. sanctions authorities can reach cryptocurrency infrastructure used to finance the Iranian regime.
OFAC alleges that BitBank moved hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bitcoin to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an Iranian military organization with broad economic influence that has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States.
The agency also linked BitBank to the Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, which Tehran uses to provide “safe passage” insurance to vessels. HormuzSafe was sanctioned by the U.S. on July 29 and, according to OFAC, began using BitBank to transfer funds it collected to entities connected to the Iranian regime.
Hormuz Payments Move Through Crypto
HormuzSafe was developed by Iran’s economy ministry and promotes services including vessel insurance, maritime traffic control and emergency response.
OFAC said shipping lawyers have characterized the arrangement as a violation of transit rights under the Law of the Sea.
The sanctions freeze any BitBank assets subject to U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit Americans from engaging in transactions with the exchange.
The designation also carries secondary sanctions, meaning foreign businesses that process BitBank-related transactions could face restrictions on their access to the U.S. financial system. An exchange in Dubai or a bank in Istanbul, for example, could face sanctions exposure for handling BitBank flows even without direct U.S. involvement.
For offshore exchanges that continue to serve Iranian customers, the principal risk is losing access to U.S. dollar financial channels rather than being brought before a U.S. court.
OFAC Does Not List Wallets
Unlike some previous cryptocurrency sanctions, Thursday’s action did not identify individual bitcoin or Tron wallet addresses.
OFAC has previously published blockchain addresses alongside crypto-related designations. When it sanctioned Zedcex in January, the agency listed seven Tron wallets.
Such addresses are used by cryptocurrency companies and financial institutions as screening data to identify transactions connected to sanctioned entities.
