US sanctions Iran’s BitBank over Bitcoin payments tied to Strait of Hormuz shipping

The US Treasury has sanctioned Iranian crypto exchange BitBank, saying it was used to move Bitcoin payments linked to vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. For PSPs and crypto infrastructure players, the point is straightforward: OFAC is treating digital-asset rails as part of sanctions-evasion infrastructure, not as a side show.

1. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said that as of June, the Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority used BitBank to transfer payments it received to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Treasury said the structure was part of an architecture used by Iranian financier Babak Zanjani to move hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to the IRGC.
2. Treasury has previously alleged that Hormuz Safe is part of an IRGC-backed scheme forcing vessels to buy maritime insurance for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, including coverage against seizures by Iran itself. In other words, the crypto piece sits inside a broader shipping-and-insurance payment loop, not an isolated exchange case.
3. Scott Bessent, US Treasury Secretary, said: “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.” Treasury described the action as part of its effort to isolate Iran from the international financial system, including through sanctions on digital asset exchanges.
4. The OFAC designations include BitBank, its developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company and three associates of Zanjani, which Treasury called “key components of the Iranian regime’s digital assets-based sanctions evasion infrastructure.” Treasury’s designation lists BitBank as having been established in 2024.
5. This is not a one-off. In August, the US sanctioned two digital asset exchanges, Shelbit and Aban Tether, for assisting the Iranian regime in sanctions evasion. In June, Treasury also sanctioned four crypto exchanges, including the country’s largest, Nobitex. In July, the US government ordered the freezing of more than $130 million in USDt held in wallets linked to Iran.

One detail worth keeping in mind for operators: Iran’s BitBank is a separate entity from bitbank, inc, the fully licensed crypto exchange founded in 2014 in Japan and acquired by SBI Holdings in June. Same spelling, very different sanctions profile, which is exactly the sort of thing compliance teams have to untangle before the banks do it for them.