IRGC

The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned BitBank, an Iranian digital asset exchange, and its developer for facilitating hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin transfers to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The action signals that regulators now treat cryptocurrency infrastructure with the same sanctions enforcement rigor as traditional banks and payment processors.

• Treasury sanctioned BitBank and developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company for moving hundreds of millions in Bitcoin to the IRGC between June and July.
• OFAC linked BitBank to financier Babak Zanjani, whose network allegedly used the exchange to circumvent U.S. sanctions on Iran.
• The designation extends sanctions compliance obligations across the crypto industry, forcing exchanges and institutions to screen connected wallets and counterparties.

• Hundreds of millions in Bitcoin allegedly moved through BitBank to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps
• June, July timeframe when Treasury says Zanjani used BitBank for sanctions evasion
• Multiple entities sanctioned including the exchange, its developer, and linked individuals

The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated BitBank and software developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company as part of a sanctions-evasion network run by Iranian financier Babak Zanjani, according to reporting first published by News BTC. Treasury alleges the infrastructure facilitated the movement of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during June and July. The designation also targeted several individuals tied to Zanjani’s broader business operations.

Treasury Treats Crypto Infrastructure Like Banks and Payment Processors

The enforcement action marks an escalation in how U.S. regulators approach digital asset businesses that facilitate sanctions violations.

Rather than simply identifying and blocking specific wallet addresses, Treasury sanctioned an entire operating exchange and the company that developed it, a posture typically reserved for banks, payment networks or front companies suspected of enabling financial crime.

This approach reflects a fundamental shift in regulatory philosophy toward crypto infrastructure.

Regulators increasingly expect digital asset firms to apply the same sanctions controls to cryptocurrency transactions as they do to wire transfers or correspondent banking relationships. The public, traceable nature of blockchain ledgers does not eliminate compliance obligations; if anything, it makes those obligations clearer to regulators who can audit transaction flows themselves.

OFAC Sanctions Ripple Across Compliance Systems Industry-Wide

Once OFAC designates an entity, U.S. persons are generally prohibited from conducting any transactions with it. Compliance teams at exchanges, custodians, and institutional crypto firms must screen for connections to BitBank, its addresses, and linked counterparties.

The practical effect is that a single Treasury announcement can cascade into operational disruptions far beyond the sanctioned entity itself.

The crypto industry has spent years developing blockchain analytics tools and wallet-screening systems precisely for moments like this.

Public ledgers allow regulators to trace movement in ways that traditional cash transfers do not, but traceability alone does not substitute for the institutional compliance infrastructure that Treasury now expects all crypto businesses to maintain as a baseline operational requirement.

The CCS read. We read this as institutional compliance maturation, not crypto exceptionalism: Treasury is extending to digital assets the same infrastructure-level enforcement it applies to traditional finance. Exchanges and custodians holding institutional capital must now price in sanctions screening and wallet-level due diligence as permanent operational costs, not edge cases. This tilts the competitive advantage toward firms with mature compliance functions.

Watch for announcements from major U.S. exchanges confirming that they have screened their user bases and transaction histories for BitBank connections and linked addresses, and whether any existing customer accounts face restrictions or account reviews as a result of the designation.