Sanctioned Iran-Linked Entities Moved $3.8 Billion in Crypto Through CoinEx

Iran has long faced U.S. financial sanctions and limited access to SWIFT, prompting government agencies and private-sector users to turn to crypto assets for cross-border transfers. Chainalysis estimated that Iran’s crypto ecosystem reached $7.78 billion in 2025. Addresses linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, received more than 50% of the value in the fourth quarter, making exchanges a key focus of U.S. efforts to shut down sanctions-evasion channels.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, sanctioned Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex on June 2, 2026. Nobitex handled more than 50% of Iran’s digital-asset inflows in 2025 and helped the Central Bank of Iran acquire hundreds of millions of dollars in stablecoins. OFAC also sanctioned senior executives, including Nobitex chairman and co-founder Amir Hossein Rad.

Years of Western financial sanctions on Iran have obstructed traditional banks’ cross-border channels, prompting individuals and state-run institutions to turn to crypto assets. Nobitex, founded in 2018, handles much of the country’s trading volume. Its founders’ ties to the supreme leader’s circle and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have raised concerns about sanctions evasion and terrorist financing.

Reuters reported on May 1 that brothers Ali and Mohammad Kharrazi owned Nobitex under the less commonly used surname Aghamir, and that the exchange had processed hundreds of millions of dollars for Iran’s central bank and the Revolutionary Guard. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Nobitex and three other exchanges on June 2, saying Nobitex received more than 50% of Iran’s digital-asset inflows in 2025.

The US Treasury Department launched Operation Economic Fury in March 2025, tasking the Office of Foreign Assets Control with tracing funds Iran moved through banks, oil and cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions. The case shows how stablecoin issuers can work with law enforcement to freeze wallets, providing a new tool to cut off Iran’s access to foreign currency and funding for its nuclear program.

On April 23, 2026, Tether worked with OFAC and US law enforcement agencies to freeze more than $344 million in USDT held at two TRON addresses. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on April 29 that nearly $500 million had been seized. In an update at the Reagan National Economic Forum on May 29, he said US authorities had taken direct control of the wallets and seized about $1 billion in total, roughly double the amount a month earlier.

Blockchain analytics company Chainalysis said groups linked to Russia and Iran are using cryptocurrency to pay for military drones and critical components, circumventing international sanctions and scrutiny by the traditional financial system. Although cryptocurrency is pseudonymous, its public and difficult-to-alter onchain transaction records also make fund flows an important lead for law-enforcement investigations.

A recent Chainalysis report found that the procurement networks have used onchain transfers to support military supply chains. The available information did not specify the report’s publication date, the total amount involved or the timing of individual transactions. The report said analyzing wallet addresses, fund-transfer routes and counterparties can help identify sanctions-evasion procurement by Russia- and Iran-linked groups, as well as nodes in their supply chains.

U.S. blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis said Russia, Iran and North Korea have long used cryptocurrencies to circumvent financial sanctions. Onchain assets can move rapidly across borders, weakening the impact of sanctions and driving up illicit transaction volumes worldwide, with stablecoins emerging as the main tool.

Chainalysis reported that crypto-based sanctions evasion reached $104 billion in 2025, surging 700% from the previous year and pushing total illicit transaction value to a record high. Stablecoins accounted for about 84% of illicit transaction volume, while the ruble-pegged A7A5 has become an important channel for Russian companies moving funds.

Nobitex is Iran's largest cryptocurrency exchange and a key gateway for converting rials into digital assets such as Bitcoin and USDT. Elliptic said the platform processed $7.2 billion in incoming and outgoing transactions in 2025. With Iran facing long-running international sanctions, rial depreciation and restrictions on cross-border banking, crypto assets offer a means of preserving value, transferring funds across borders and bypassing traditional financial channels. Those uses draw particular attention during geopolitical conflict.

Outflows from Nobitex surged 700% within minutes of U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran on February 28, 2026, according to Elliptic. Chainalysis said about $10.3 million had flowed out of Iranian exchanges by March 2. TRM Labs, however, said more than $35 million was transferred into Nobitex's own cold wallets as part of routine treasury operations, meaning the activity did not yet conclusively indicate broad capital flight.

Iran legalized cryptocurrency mining in 2019, allowing licensed miners to use government-subsidized electricity. However, the Bitcoin they produce must be sold to the Central Bank of Iran for imports and cross-border settlements. This system, together with stablecoin networks controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has enabled Tehran to maintain foreign trade despite U.S. sanctions and restrictions on its banking system.

According to Chainalysis, transaction activity across Iran’s cryptocurrency ecosystem reached $7.8 billion in 2025, while the country accounted for about 2%–5% of global Bitcoin computing power. After the United States and Israel launched a new wave of strikes against Iran on February 28, 2026, the fragile power grid underpinning mining operations faced the risk of disruption. The attacks also brought renewed scrutiny to this financial lifeline for the government and the IRGC.