US Treasury delivers new blow: Iranian crypto exchanges Shelbit and Aban Tether hit with sanctions
The U.S. Treasury is once again demonstrating that the cryptocurrency industry is not a "gray zone" for regulators. This time, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed restrictive measures on two Iranian crypto exchanges — Shelbit and Aban Tether — as well as on key network operator Siavash Keivanpour. These are not isolated actions, but part of a systematic campaign to isolate Iran's financial infrastructure, with the crypto sector being one of the primary targets.
Based on my data, the schemes uncovered by OFAC are impressive in scale. Addresses linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) transferred over $1 million to Shelbit, while more than $2 million returned to the Corps' own wallets. This indicates that the exchange was used as a transit hub for money laundering and circumventing the financial blockade. Keivanpour, who managed Shelbit from Georgia, created shell companies in Poland and the UAE, and his wallets sent over $2 million to Nobitex — Iran's largest platform, which had already been blocked earlier in June of this year.
Notably, Shelbit appears to have served as a universal tool for shadow operations. This involves not only transfers linked to the IRGC, but also the laundering of tens of millions of dollars for a gambling network. Previously, information emerged about transfers to Binance totaling $676 million, highlighting the global reach of these flows. In turn, Aban Tether processed payments worth millions of dollars through previously blocked services, including Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex.
Pressure Intensifies
This is not the first such action — the United States is consistently expanding its sanctions list against Iranian crypto structures under directive NSPM-2, which calls for "maximum pressure" on Tehran. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has made it clear: it does not matter in which currency settlements are conducted — dollars, rials, or cryptocurrency — any shadow financial networks will be disrupted. Stablecoin issuers, as practice shows, promptly freeze wallets once they are blacklisted, making such schemes increasingly risky.
My analysis: These measures are a signal for the entire industry. Crypto exchanges, even those operating in jurisdictions with favorable regulation, cannot ignore sanctions risks if their clients are connected to sanctioned entities. For Iranian platforms, this is effectively a death sentence: access to liquidity and international partners will rapidly narrow. Investors, meanwhile, should take into account that geopolitical factors are becoming a key driver of volatility in the digital asset market.