US Treasury Sanctions Two Iran-Linked Crypto Exchanges

TechFlow reports, August 8, according to Cointelegraph, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions on two cryptocurrency exchanges, Shelbit and Aban Tether, accusing them of assisting the Iranian regime in money laundering and sanction evasion, with proceeds used to support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

OFAC noted that IRGC-controlled wallets sent over $1 million in crypto assets to addresses associated with Shelbit, wallets associated with Iranian citizen Siavash Kayvanpour sent $2 million in digital assets to Nobitex, and Shelbit also assisted in transferring $2 million in crypto assets to IRGC wallets. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that whether through U.S. dollars, rials, or cryptocurrency, the Treasury will continue to crack down on illicit financial networks sustaining the Iranian regime.