Treasury Sanctions Iranian Crypto Exchange BitBank Over Bitcoin Transfers to IRGC

Bitcoin Magazine Treasury Sanctions Iranian Crypto Exchange BitBank Over Bitcoin Transfers to IRGC The U.S. is continuing to target Iran’s use of bitcoin.  In a Thursday statement, the U.S.

Department of the Treasury designated BitBank, an Iranian crypto exchange, as part of Operation Economic Outcast — the Trump Administration’s whole-of-government economic campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran and its enablers.  The U.S. has sanctioned Iran for decades.

This year, the Middle Eastern country has stepped up its use of cryptocurrencies — including bitcoin — in order to skirt around economic penalties.  “Today’s designations of Iranian digital asset infrastructure make perfectly clear that efforts to finance the Iranian regime using cryptocurrencies are not beyond OFAC’s reach,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement.  “If you support the Iranian regime, the Department of the Treasury will sanction you.” The sanctions target designated Iranian financier Babak Zanjani, along with its software developer, Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, and three of Zanjani’s associates: Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein, and Seyed Adel Heidari.

Since June, the Iranian Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority has used BitBank to move bitcoin to the Iranian regime, according to the Treasury.  Thursday’s sanctions aim to hit the “architecture Zanjani built to launder funds,” it added.  “The Department of the Treasury will continue to...