The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has designated Nobitex — Iran's largest digital asset exchange — along with three other local crypto platforms. OFAC says the exchanges funneled money to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, enabled ransomware payments, and helped the regime shield wealth. The moves freeze any assets they hold in the U.S. and trigger secondary sanctions risks for foreign counterparties doing business with them.
Nobitex: Iran's dominant exchange under the hammer
Nobitex processed more than half of all Iranian digital asset inflows in 2025. According to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, the exchange served as a conduit for IRGC-linked financial activity. OFAC's designation names the platform specifically for facilitating payments tied to the IRGC, ransomware operations, and attempts to hide regime wealth. The designation comes just weeks after Tether froze $344.2 million held across two wallets attributed to the Central Bank of Iran with ties to IRGC-Qods Force and Hizballah. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. has now seized roughly $1 billion in Iranian cryptocurrency.
Three other platforms named
OFAC also blacklisted Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex. Wallex handled about 12% of Iran's inflows and facilitated IRGC-linked transactions. Bitpin, which covered about 10% of inflows, had investors involved in sanctions evasion. Ramzinex tallied $2.45 billion in total transactions — including payments for a government-backed Iranian financial institution. Iran's broader crypto infrastructure is worth an estimated $7.8 billion, per the Treasury.
Individual sanctions and legal framework
OFAC named individuals tied to the exchanges. Among them: Amir Hossein Rad, chairman, co-founder, and former CEO of Nobitex, plus two co-founders from the Kharrazi family — described as part of the inner circle of former Supreme Leader Khamenei. Current CEO Seyed Ali Khoee was also designated. The sanctions rest on Executive Orders 13224 (counterterrorism) and 13902 (targeting persons in Iran's financial sector). OFAC took care to note that Iranian digital asset exchanges are considered blocked financial institutions regardless of whether they appear on the SDN list. The explicit SDN designation, however, gives stablecoin issuers a clearer legal basis for bulk freezes.
The broader crackdown
The Treasury isn't stopping with exchanges. On May 27, OFAC designated Iran's so-called 'Persian Gulf Strait Authority' — an IRGC-linked scheme that extorted international shipping. That designation, plus the exchange blacklist and the Tether freeze in April, point to a sustained push to cut off Iranian access to digital finance. For anyone doing business with these platforms, the message is blunt: there's no gray area anymore. The SDN listing makes it risky, and OFAC has already signaled it expects compliance.
What comes next? More designations are likely — the Treasury's pattern has been to follow the money. Foreign counterparties that haven't already cut ties with Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, or Ramzinex face a narrow window to exit before enforcement actions arrive.
