When compliance narratives flood the screen, the truly hard blow often lands on the on-chain channels.
On September 17, the U.S. Treasury’s OFAC added the Iranian digital-asset exchange BitBank to the list under the Operation Economic Outcast framework.
The core allegations are tough:
1️⃣ BitBank is accused of being controlled by the sanctioned Iranian finance figure Babak Zanjani
2️⃣ Since this past June, OFAC-designated Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority transferred the payments it received to the IRGC via BitBank
3️⃣ Between June and July, Zanjani used BitBank to help transfer to the IRGC $BTC worth hundreds of millions of dollars
4️⃣ The indictment also names the software developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, along with three individuals associated with Zanjani
Legal tools are E.O. 13902 (Iranian digital-asset sector). The risk of secondary sanctions is spelled out plainly—touching this basic infrastructure could mean being cut off from the entry point into the dollar system.
One reminder: this is BitBank, established by Iran in 2024, ≠ the Japanese licensed exchange bitbank, inc (under SBI). Don’t misread the subject.
Screening and judgment: exempt letters, ETF flow chatter again and again—what institutions’ compliance teams actually monitor every day is still this kind of list of on-chain sanctions channels.
Source: U.S. Treasury (home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0632), Reuters, Cointelegraph.
Not investment advice.