US Sanctions Iran’s Largest Crypto Exchange Nobitex Over IRGC Links

On June 2, the US Treasury sanctioned Nobitex, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, accusing it of ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and of helping sanctioned entities and individuals move value around the restrictions. For high-risk PSPs, the useful part is not the politics but the mechanism: Treasury says an exchange handling a large share of Iranian crypto flow was being used as sanctions infrastructure.

1. The Treasury Department said Nobitex "provided significant support to the regime," processing more than 50% of all digital asset inflows from Iran in 2025 and facilitating payments linked to Iran’s terrorist activity.
2. US authorities also said Nobitex helped with sanctions evasion tied to the IRGC, including transactions connected to ransomware activity affiliated with the Guard.
3. According to the US, Nobitex helped the Central Bank of Iran access stablecoins worth "hundreds of millions of dollars" to support the Iranian rial, gave regime-linked individuals access to international digital asset exchanges, and enabled sanctions evasion across multiple jurisdictions.
4. Nobitex says it serves about 11 million users and processes about 50–70% of all digital asset flow in Iran. Its annual trading volume is about $6–7 billion.
5. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department will continue tracking money flows through the banking system and digital assets to prevent the regime from developing nuclear weapons, framing the action as part of the US maximum pressure campaign.