The U.S. Treasury strikes again: cryptocurrency exchanges linked to the IRGC have been sanctioned.
The U.S. Treasury continues to tighten the screws on Iran's crypto sector. This time, two platforms—Shelbit and Aban Tether—have fallen under OFAC restrictive measures. The formal accusation is laundering digital assets on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). This is not just a targeted strike but part of a systemic campaign called "Economic Fury," launched by the Donald Trump administration based on memorandum NSPM-2 dated February 4, 2025.
The head of the U.S. agency, Scott Bessent, gave an extremely harsh comment: "The Iranian regime's reliance on digital assets and shadow banking networks is further proof that 'Economic Fury' is working. Whether it's dollars, rials, or cryptocurrency, the department will identify and dismantle the illicit financial networks that keep the regime afloat." The signal is crystal clear: Washington makes no distinction between fiat and virtual currencies when it comes to financing hostile structures.
A network spanning four jurisdictions
According to OFAC documents, the operator of Shelbit is Siavash Kayvanpour—an Iranian national with Dominican and Afghan citizenship, based in the UAE. Formally, the exchange is managed through the Georgian company SHPS Shelbit. However, other legal entities were also hit: UAE-registered Shelbit General Trading LLC (operating under the Shelbit Exchange brand), Polish Shelbit Technologies Ltd (already in liquidation), as well as Emirati Crypto Home DMCC and NFT Home DMCC.
The figures cited by the regulator are striking. More than $1 million in cryptocurrency flowed from IRGC-linked addresses to Shelbit, while over $2 million went back out. Another approximately $2 million from wallets controlled by Kayvanpour were directed to the already-sanctioned Iranian exchange Nobitex. Notably, Dubai's regulator VARA had previously issued orders against General Trading—in January 2025 and July 2026—but the company continued its operations.
However, the most interesting part is Shelbit's connection to illegal gambling. According to OFAC, the exchange was involved in laundering tens of millions of dollars obtained from a network of over two thousand Persian-language gambling sites. These resources were promoted by two Iranian influencers, convicted in their homeland back in 2023 for illegal gambling. Despite the sentences, their websites continued to operate and had access to the national payment system, tightly controlled by the Central Bank of Iran. This points to deep corruption within the country's financial ecosystem.
The second platform—Aban Tether—was sanctioned for directly servicing Iran's financial sector. Transactions worth millions of dollars involving Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex passed through it—all of which were already on blacklists. This concerns an entire infrastructure that ensured the viability of Iran's crypto market in circumvention of international restrictions.
My analysis: OFAC's actions are not just a bureaucratic formality. Previously, journalists established that Nobitex, Iran's largest exchange, is controlled by the influential Kharrazi clan, close to the supreme leadership. Sanctions against Shelbit and Aban Tether effectively deliver the final blow to Tehran's financial isolation in the digital sphere, stripping it of the ability to use cryptocurrencies to bypass restrictions. In the long term, this could lead to a complete disconnection of Iran's crypto sector from global liquidity, delivering a serious blow to the country's economy, which is already suffering from hyperinflation and international pressure.