Overview
- The Treasury is examining whether specific cryptocurrency platforms enabled Iranian officials and state-linked actors to move money, access hard currency or procure goods in violation of sanctions, according to TRM Labs’ Ari Redbord.
- OFAC last week designated U.K.-registered exchanges Zedcex and Zedxion for facilitating transactions for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, signaling platform-level enforcement.
- Blockchain analytics firms estimate Iran-linked crypto activity reached between $7.8 billion and about $10 billion in 2025, extending a multiyear rise.
- Attribution is disputed, with Chainalysis estimating roughly half of volumes tied to the IRGC while TRM Labs says most flows are retail even as it flags more than 5,000 IRGC-linked addresses and about $3 billion moved since 2023.
- Elliptic reported that Iran’s central bank acquired at least $507 million in USDT in 2025, and Nansen observed funds shifting from local exchange Nobitex to international platforms throughout last year.