U.S. Treasury sanctions Nobitex, Iran’s largest crypto exchange, over IRGC ties

The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday, June 1, announced it had placed sanctions on Nobitex, Iran’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, along with three other digital asset platforms, due to accusations of aiding Tehran in evading Western sanctions and helping to funnel money to blacklisted institutions including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

This action by the U.S. Treasury is a part of the Trump administration’s wider pressure campaign against Iran, all tied to the ongoing Iran-U.S. conflict. CEO Amir Hossein Rad and two brothers identified as the exchange’s controllers have also been indicted in the Treasury’s statement.

Treasury claims Nobitex facilitated terror financing

The U.S. Treasury said Nobitex had offered “significant support” to the Iranian government and also processed a “significant number” of digital transactions connected to the IRGC and Iran’s central bank.

The department also alleged that Nobitex also helped to move assets out of the country to protect regime wealth, even during government-imposed internet blackouts after U.S. combat operations began in Iran.

“While Iran’s economy is in free fall, the regime has chosen to co-opt digital asset technologies for its own corrupt agenda, including evading sanctions and transferring wealth out of the country,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the statement.

Nobitex denied all allegations

In an earlier statement to Reuters in April, Nobitex had vehemently denied any direct government connections and stated that it had not knowingly helped the Iranian state.

Any illicit funds that passed through the platform did so without management knowledge or approval, the company claimed. It also denied that the two brothers had ever used an alternative identity at any point in time.

The U.S Department of Treasury also sanctioned three other digital asset exchanges in addition to Iran’s foremost crypto exchange in the same announcement.

These actions fall under the Trump administration’s “Economic Fury” campaign, a title mentioned in the Treasury’s press release statement.

This sanction placed on the crypto exchange means any U.S. person or entity is prohibited from transacting with Nobitex, its founders, or its CEO. Foreign financial institutions that help to process transactions on their behalf also risk secondary sanctions from the U.S.