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US Sanctions 4 Iran Crypto Exchanges Including Nobitex for IRGC Ties

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned four Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges, Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex, on June 2, 2026, under the Trump administration's "Economic Fury" campaign. Together, the four platforms accounted for at least 72% of all Iranian digital asset inflows in 2025. Four Iranian nationals were also individually designated, including Nobitex's chairman and three additional executives. What Got Sanctioned: The Full Scope This was not a single-exchange action. The designations, issued under Executive Orders 13224 and 13902, hit the entire upper tier of Iran's domestic crypto infrastructure simultaneously. Exchange 2025 Iran Inflow Share Key Allegation Nobitex 50%+ IRGC, Central Bank stablecoin access, ransomware, blackout-era asset transfers Wallex 12% IRGC-linked transactions, sanctions evasion Bitpin 10% IRGC-linked investors, millions in sanctioned transactions Ramzinex Not specified $2.45B total processed since 2018, IRGC and govt-backed entity ties All four are now on the Specially Designated Nationals list. US persons are barred from transacting with them. Foreign institutions face secondary sanctions exposure if they continue dealing with any of the four. Check live: Crypto Price Today The Four Individuals Designated Name Role Basis for Designation Amir Hossein Rad Chairman & co-founder Reconstituted Nobitex operations after June 2025 hack Seyed Mohammad Ali Aghamir Mohammad Ali Co-founder Kharrazi family, Khamenei inner circle Seyed Mohammad Aghamir Mohammad Ali Co-founder Kharrazi family, registered under obscured surname Seyed Ali Khoee Current CEO Former head of product and marketing The Kharrazi family connection runs deep, the two co-founding brothers are members of one of the Islamic Republic's most politically connected dynasties, with documented ties to Ayatollah Khamenei's inner circle. Corporate records showed the brothers were initially registered under a rarely used variant of their family name. What Nobitex Actually Did, Per OFAC Treasury's filing is specific on the alleged conduct: Processed 50%+ of all Iranian digital asset inflows in 2025 Helped Iran's Central Bank access hundreds of millions in USDT stablecoins to prop up the rial Facilitated transactions linked to IRGC-affiliated ransomware actors Enabled regime insiders to reach international exchanges and move wealth across jurisdictions Continued processing transactions during government-imposed internet blackouts following the commencement of US combat operations in Iran, shielding regime assets when conventional finance was disrupted That last point is significant. Continued operations during a state-imposed blackout isn't an accident of infrastructure. Treasury treating it as intentional facilitation suggests US intelligence had visibility into Nobitex's operational decisions, not just its transaction flows. The $90 Million Hack That Didn't Stop It One detail buried in the OFAC filing: Nobitex was hacked in June 2025. Pro-Israel group Predatory Sparrow breached the exchange and drained roughly $90 million across Bitcoin, Ethereum, and multiple other chains, deliberately sending funds to burn addresses to make them unrecoverable. The attack also exposed Nobitex's full source code. Amir Hossein Rad was specifically designated for rebuilding the exchange's operations after that attack. The fact that Nobitex reconstituted quickly enough to keep processing state-linked transactions through a wartime internet blackout is part of what made it a designation target. The Broader $1 Billion Campaign Tuesday's action is the latest step in a running seizure campaign. The scale of what's already been taken is striking. Date Action Amount April 24, 2026 Tether froze two Tron wallets linked to Iran's Central Bank and IRGC $344.2M USDT May 29, 2026 Bessent confirmed total Iranian crypto seized under Economic Fury ~$1B June 2, 2026 Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, Ramzinex designated 72%+ of Iran inflow capacity blocked The April Tether freeze, $213M in one wallet and $131M in the other, was identified by Chainalysis as consistent with known IRGC wallet patterns and aligned with same-day OFAC designations. It remains the largest single on-chain freeze of Iranian sovereign crypto reserves on record. Iran's broader crypto shadow economy is estimated at roughly $7.8 billion. Before intensified enforcement, the regime was reportedly routing $400–500M per month through USDT alone. Reuters Investigation Came First The sanctions followed a Reuters probe published May 1, 2026, which documented Nobitex's role as a central node in Iran's parallel financial system. That investigation found Nobitex had moved more than $2 billion on the Tron network and at least $317 million on BNB Chain since January 2023. Iran's central bank alone purchased over $500 million of USDT on Tron between November 2024 and June 2025, with $347 million of that routed through Nobitex. Nobitex denied government ties in a statement to Reuters in April. The exchange said any illicit funds moved through its platform without management knowledge or approval. That position is now difficult to sustain against a formal OFAC administrative record. $15 Million Reward on the Table The State Department's Rewards for Justice program is offering up to $15 million for information leading to the disruption of IRGC financial mechanisms, a signal that enforcement is shifting toward intelligence-gathering, not just asset blocking. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the Nobitex action explicitly: "As promised, Treasury will continue to follow the money in support of Economic Fury, whether it is through the banking system or through digital assets, to prevent the regime from developing a nuclear weapon." OFAC issued a new Iran-related FAQ numbered 1257 alongside Tuesday's designations. No wind-down period or compliance deadline was included. The designations are in effect immediately and indefinitely.

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