The US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on Iranian cryptocurrency exchange BitBank. The department alleged that the platform transferred payments collected for passage through the Strait of Hormuz and facilitated Bitcoin transfers to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The decision announced on September 17 also covers BitBank’s software developer and three individuals. US authorities link the exchange to a digital asset network controlled by previously sanctioned Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani.
Bitcoin connection to Hormuz payments
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) alleges that Zanjani used BitBank to facilitate transfers of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin between June and July. The agency says those assets reached the Revolutionary Guards.
The statement also identifies Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority as an organization that has used BitBank since June. According to US authorities, it transferred payments collected from ships to the Iranian government through the exchange.
The Hormuz connection dates back to OFAC’s July 29 decision. At the time, the agency added HormuzSafe and Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company to its sanctions list.
The Treasury alleges that the arrangement required commercial vessels to purchase mandatory maritime insurance to pass through the strait. According to the department, the coverage claimed to protect against risks such as vessel seizures, while some payments took place in digital assets.
Washington describes the arrangement as a mechanism for Iran to collect revenue from maritime shipping. July’s sanctions focused on the organizations providing insurance services, while the latest decision targets the crypto infrastructure allegedly used to transfer the payments.
Software developer and three individuals also targeted
OFAC also sanctioned BitBank’s developer, Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company. Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein and Seyed Adel Heidari were added to the sanctions list as well.
The department links these individuals to Zanjani’s corporate network. The designations rely on Executive Order 13902, which provides sanctions authority covering various sectors of Iran’s economy.
Zanjani has faced US sanctions before. According to Reuters, Washington sanctioned him and digital asset companies Zedcex and Zedxion in January.
In July, the US targeted nine additional firms, including companies based in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Reuters reports that Zanjani, who received a death sentence in Iran in 2016 for embezzlement, had his sentence commuted in 2024 and re-emerged in 2025 as a backer of government-linked economic projects.
Which transactions do the sanctions affect?
The decision blocks the designated individuals’ and entities’ property in the United States or under the possession or control of US persons. Unless an exemption or OFAC authorization applies, US persons are generally prohibited from conducting transactions involving that property.
Entities owned 50% or more, individually or collectively, by blocked persons are also subject to blocking. The department warns that foreign financial institutions facilitating certain transactions could also face sanctions.
The BitBank decision forms part of “Operation Economic Outcast,” a campaign launched on August 24. The US administration says the campaign aims to restrict Iran’s revenue sources linked to oil trading, financial intermediaries and international companies.
At the campaign’s launch, the department announced plans to increase pressure on foreign actors facilitating Iran-related activities. The inclusion of BitBank’s software developer alongside the exchange shows that companies supporting crypto services also fall within the scope of this approach.
