> TL;DR

> - OFAC (US Treasury) sanctioned the Iranian crypto exchange BitBank on Thursday as part of "Operation Economic Outcast"

> - The exchange is said to have transferred hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) between June and July 2026

> - The sanctions directly link BitBank to the Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, which runs a bitcoin-based "safe passage" scheme for ships in the Strait of Hormuz

> - The bitcoin price has reacted little to the news, in line with the market's usual pattern for Iran-related sanctions

New round of sanctions against Iran's crypto infrastructure

The US Treasury Department, through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), sanctioned the Iranian digital currency exchange BitBank on Thursday. According to Treasury, the platform was used to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) during the period June to July this year, ForexLive (investinglive.com) writes.

The action is part of what Treasury calls Operation Economic Outcast, a broader campaign to put economic pressure on the Iranian regime. Along with BitBank, the software developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company and three individuals linked to the network around Iranian financier Babak Zanjani were also placed on the sanctions list.

The Zanjani network and the death sentence that didn't stop him

Treasury claims BitBank is controlled by Zanjani, who has promoted the exchange on social media since at least 2024. Zanjani was sentenced to death in Iran in 2016 for embezzlement linked to the state oil company National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) — a sentence that, according to US authorities, has not stopped him from continuing sanctions evasion through cryptocurrency.

The three individuals named, Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein and Seyed Adel Heidari, are described as leaders within Zanjani's broader network. Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein is additionally accused of having brokered digital transactions that ended up with the IRGC.

Direct link to the Hormuz crisis

The most striking element of the case is the connection to the already-sanctioned Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority. According to Treasury, this actor has since June used BitBank to transfer payments linked to a bitcoin-settled scheme that is meant to give ships a form of "safe passage" through the Strait of Hormuz.

The scheme was first reported in Iranian media in May, and according to the sources, Iran had a goal of more than 10 billion dollars in revenue from the initiative. OFAC had already sanctioned Hormuz Safe and the affiliated Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company in July, and in August authorities issued a warning that shipping companies and insurers risk sanctions merely by making contact with these actors — even without money changing hands.

For Norway, which has a substantial shipping fleet with regular traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, this is a concrete warning: exposure to the scheme, direct or indirect, could in principle trigger US secondary sanctions even without any transfer of money.

Today's sanctions against Iranian digital infrastructure clearly show that financing the Iranian regime through cryptocurrency is not beyond OFAC's reach

That was the statement from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent when the sanctions were announced. He added that any actor supporting the Iranian regime can expect similar measures.

A critical look at the sources: what is not documented

It is worth emphasizing that Treasury's estimate of "hundreds of millions of dollars" in bitcoin transfers is a claim from US authorities, not an independently verified sum. OFAC has not yet made public any specific blockchain addresses or transaction hashes to substantiate the figures in the original announcement, which makes it difficult for outside observers to independently verify the scale.

It should also be clarified that the sanctioned Iranian BitBank, established around 2024, has no connection to the Japanese, licensed company bitbank, inc., which is owned by SBI Holdings and operates entirely legally.

Limited market reaction

Bitcoin is trading around 77,500 dollars, and the price reaction to the news has been modest. This is in line with an increasingly well-established pattern: Iran-related sanctions against individual exchanges shift geopolitical risk premiums more than they affect crypto prices themselves. The Fear & Greed Index stands at 56 out of 100, indicating a neutral market mood, neither fear-driven nor euphoric.

Seen in a broader perspective, sanctions against a single exchange are unlikely to be enough to significantly disrupt Iran's overall sanctions-evasion infrastructure. But they fit into a pattern of parallel economic and military pressure in the Gulf region, and the case comes shortly after a separate US Department of Justice case involving cryptocurrency linked to Iranian oil sales — a sign that digital assets are increasingly a recurring flashpoint in the enforcement of Iran sanctions.