The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has announced sanctions against Nobitex, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, accusing the platform of helping process payments linked to terrorist activities, sanctions evasion, and transactions connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
According to the Treasury, Nobitex played a major role in Iran’s digital asset ecosystem and processed more than half of all Iranian cryptocurrency inflows in 2025. U.S. officials said the exchange helped the Iranian regime move funds, avoid economic restrictions, and support IRGC-linked activity, including transactions associated with ransomware actors connected to the group.
The Treasury also said Nobitex helped Iran’s Central Bank access hundreds of millions of dollars in stablecoins. These funds were allegedly used to support the struggling Iranian rial while allowing regime insiders to access international crypto exchanges and bypass sanctions across several countries.
As part of the action, OFAC also sanctioned several people connected to Nobitex, including chairman Amir Hossein Rad, CEO Seyed Ali Khoee, co-founder Seyed Mohammad Ali Aghamir Mohammad Ali, and blockchain lead Seyed Mohammad Aghamir Mohammad Ali.
The sanctions were announced under the U.S. government’s “Economic Fury” campaign and also targeted three other Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges: Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex.
Blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis said Iran’s cryptocurrency ecosystem received nearly $7.8 billion in 2025. The company estimated that addresses linked to the IRGC accounted for more than half of the value received by Iran’s crypto ecosystem in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Nobitex handled the largest share of Iranian crypto inflows, processing more than 50 percent of the total. Wallex and Bitpin followed with 12 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
The sanctions mean that any assets belonging to the listed companies or individuals under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen. U.S. persons are also banned from doing business with them.
The move also increases pressure internationally, as foreign companies and U.S. allies may avoid working with the sanctioned entities to reduce legal and financial risks.
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Nobitex was also targeted in June 2025 by the pro-Israel hacking group Predatory Sparrow. The group claimed it breached the exchange, stole around $90 million in digital assets, and left politically motivated messages behind.
