Crypto exchanges sanctioned alongside Iranian officials in Trump administration’s Iran crackdown

Two cryptocurrency exchanges registered in the United Kingdom have become the first digital asset platforms blacklisted under U.S. sanctions targeting Iran’s financial sector.

On Friday, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that crypto exchanges Zedcex and Zedxion processed funds for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the U.S. and EU classify as a terrorist organization. The agency also sanctioned Babak Morteza Zanjani, an Iranian financier it accuses of bankrolling IRGC-linked projects after his release from prison.

“Treasury will continue to target Iranian networks and corrupt elites that enrich themselves at the expense of the Iranian people,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “This includes the regime’s attempts to exploit digital assets to evade sanctions and finance cybercriminal operations.”

Treasury said Zedcex has processed over $94 billion in transactions since its August 2022 registration, with both exchanges handling large volumes of funds for IRGC-linked counterparties.

While OFAC has previously sanctioned individual crypto wallet addresses and technology providers tied to sanctions evasion, this is the first time it has blacklisted entire exchange entities under Iran-specific financial sanctions authorities.

Two exchanges linked to Zanjani

The exchanges are linked to Zanjani, who Treasury describes as “a criminal Iranian investor who previously embezzled billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenue.” According to Treasury, he was freed from imprisonment “in order to launder money for the regime” after his death sentence was commuted in 2024.

Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs reported earlier this month that the two exchanges processed approximately $1 billion in IRGC-linked funds since 2023, accounting for 56% of their total volume. The vast majority moved via Tether’s USDT on Tron.

The sanctions come amid growing scrutiny of Iran’s crypto activity. Elliptic reported earlier this month that Iran’s Central Bank acquired at least $507 million in USDT, apparently to support the plummeting rial.

Thursday’s announcement also targeted senior Iranian officials overseeing security forces implicated in deadly crackdowns on protesters, including Iran’s Minister of Interior Eskandar Momeni Kalagari. Treasury said it sanctioned more than 875 persons, vessels and aircraft connected to Iran’s sanctions evasion networks in 2025. Americans are forbidden from doing business with any sanctioned persons or entities.

The death toll from the protests is hard to accurately quantify given the difficulty of reporting in the country, but some outlets have estimated that tens of thousands of protestors have been killed in recent weeks by the Iranian government.