The US Treasury Department on Tuesday blacklisted several Iranian crypto exchanges, including its largest platform Nobitex, as part of its ongoing campaign against the Iranian government.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced that Nobitex, Walletex, Bitpin and Ramzinex, as well as executives of some of these exchanges, are being added to its global Specially Designated Nationals list, barring any US entities or businesses and people using the US dollar financial system from providing any financial services with the platforms.
The announcement comes just days after Treasury Secretary Scott Besant announced that his department had seized nearly $1 billion in crypto from Iranian exchanges and wallets since the beginning of the war against Iran.
“While Iran’s economy is in rapid decline, the regime has chosen to co-opt digital asset technologies to further its own corrupt agenda, including evading sanctions and moving funds out of the country. Iran’s current economic chaos is proof that President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign has been successful,” Bessant said in a statement Tuesday.
The announcement linked Tuesday’s action to Nobitex’s alleged association with “Iran’s terrorist activities, efforts to evade sanctions, and transactions involving the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which also included ransomware payments.”
Nobitex also helped move assets out of Iran after the US began bombing Iran earlier this year, the press release said.
The Treasury Department said the sanctions action was part of its broader campaign against Iran.
“Additionally, Treasury recently warned of the risks of sanctions associated with compliance with Iranian demands for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, such as “toll” payments, including payments made through fiat currency, digital assets, offsets, informal swaps, or other in-kind payments such as nominal charitable donations and providing sensitive vessel information,” the press release said.
Read more: US says it has seized nearly $1 billion in Iranian crypto as pressure campaign expands