US sanctions Istanbul fintech Zedpay over alleged Iran sanctions evasion network

The United States on Friday sanctioned İstanbul-based Zedpay Financial Systems and Services Inc. and its Iranian chairperson, Mehdi Rezazadeh, saying the company provided payment services to a cryptocurrency exchange used in a network designed to evade sanctions on Iran. For PSPs and acquirers, the useful part is simple: OFAC is treating payment infrastructure, not just the exchange itself, as sanctionable exposure.

1. The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Zedpay and Rezazadeh to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List in an action covering four people and nine companies. OFAC said Zedpay was owned or controlled by Zedxion Exchange Limited (Zedxion), or acted on its behalf, and designated Rezazadeh for acting on behalf of Zedpay.
2. According to the Treasury, Zedpay provided digital wallets and global transfer services and was integrated into Zedxion, a UK-registered cryptocurrency exchange linked to Iranian financier Babak Zanjani. That connection let users trade on Zedxion using Zedpay wallets and gave the exchange access to conventional currency settlement and cross-border payments it otherwise lacked.
3. Official US records list Zedpay at Tekstilkent Plaza in İstanbul’s Esenler district and say it was established on May 24, 2022, as a computer programming business. The detail matters because OFAC is clearly comfortable following the payment rails through the corporate wrappers, not just the face of the exchange.
4. Zedxion and another UK-registered exchange, Zedcex Exchange Limited (Zedcex), were sanctioned in January along with Zanjani. The Treasury said addresses attributed to the exchanges processed funds for wallets linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and that Zedcex handled more than $94 billion in transactions since its 2022 registration.
5. The sanctions freeze any property and interests in property held by Zedpay and Rezazadeh in the United States or under the control of US persons. They also bar US persons and transactions passing through the United States from dealing with the designated parties unless authorized by OFAC, and Treasury said financial institutions outside the United States can face sanctions exposure for certain dealings with them.

Zanjani was sentenced to death in Iran in 2016 for embezzling billions of dollars in oil revenue, his sentence was commuted in 2024, and he re-emerged in 2025 as a financial backer of projects connected to the Iranian government. The Treasury says his companies use financial services, cryptocurrency, gold, transportation and infrastructure projects to conceal ownership, launder funds and move money for Iran.