Summary
- The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated four major Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges: Nobitex, Bitpin, Ramzinex, and Wallex.
- The enforcement action heavily targets Nobitex, the largest Iranian exchange responsible for 50% of volumes, and part of a terror-financing network.
- The broad scope of these designations introduces significant secondary sanctions risks for any international financial institution that continues to process transactions for these Iranian entities.
On June 2, 2026, The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Nobitex — Iran’s largest crypto exchange — and Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex for sanctions evasion, terrorist financing and helping prop up the Iranian regime. The sweeping enforcement action is the Treasury Department’s largest yet against Iran’s digital asset economy.
The Iranian crypto ecosystem reached over $7.78 billion in 2025, growing amid domestic instability and external military pressure. Chainalysis estimates that addresses associated with the IRGC account for over 50 percent of total value received by the Iranian crypto ecosystem in Q4 of 2025. The scale of the targeted platforms is massive within this context. Last year, Nobitex processed over 50 percent of all Iranian digital asset inflows, while Wallex and Bitpin accounted for 12 percent and 10 percent, respectively. Ramzinex, founded in 2018, has processed over $2.45 billion in lifetime transactions.
While Iranian financial institutions have long been cut off from international banking networks like SWIFT, the regime and its proxy networks have increasingly turned to digital assets to move value globally. According to OFAC, these actions are part of a broader strategy that has already successfully frozen nearly half a billion dollars in regime-linked cryptocurrency. By aggressively targeting these high-volume domestic VASPs, OFAC aims to sever the digital on-ramps and off-ramps that allow Iranian entities to interact with the global financial system.
Technical breakdown: Iran’s digital dollar pipeline
At the center of this enforcement action is Nobitex. Along with the exchange itself, OFAC designated four key individuals: Amir Hossein Rad (Chairman and former CEO), Seyed Ali Khoee (current CEO), and co-founders Seyed Mohammad Ali Aghamir and Seyed Mohammad Aghamir.
As the Chainalysis Reactor graph above shows, the newly-sanctioned Iranian exchanges did business with many previously-sanctioned Iranian entities and proxies, including the IRGC, Hamas, and the Central Bank of Iran. Nobitex processed hundreds of millions of dollars in stablecoin transfers for the Central Bank’s effort to prop up Iran’s flagging currency, according to OFAC.
Impact on cryptocurrency compliance
For global VASPs, cryptocurrency exchanges, and stablecoin issuers, this action requires immediate updates to sanctions screening and transaction monitoring protocols. The secondary sanctions explicitly attached to Nobitex, Bitpin, Ramzinex, and Wallex means that any foreign financial institution facilitating transactions for these entities risks being cut off from the U.S. financial system.
With Chainalysis’s solutions, organizations can monitor and detect exposure to these high-risk Iranian networks. We have labeled the relevant cryptocurrency addresses associated with Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex in our product suite to ensure our customers can proactively identify exposure and maintain global compliance standards.
FAQs
Which Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges did OFAC sanction?
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned four major domestic Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges: Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex.
Why were Nobitex and its executives designated?
Nobitex and its leadership were designated under counter-terrorism authorities (SDGT) for facilitating widespread sanctions evasion. The exchange helped the Central Bank of Iran access hundreds of millions in stablecoins, processed transactions for IRGC-affiliated ransomware actors, and allowed regime insiders to move wealth out of the country during internet blackouts.
How do these Iranian exchanges use cryptocurrency to evade sanctions?
Iranian users and government entities convert local rials into stablecoins, which are then transmitted internationally to settle trade, bypassing traditional banking blockades.
What are the compliance requirements for international crypto exchanges?
International VASPs must immediately block any accounts or transactions linked to the designated exchanges or their executives. Furthermore, because these designations carry secondary sanctions risks, any foreign entity that continues to process transactions for these Iranian platforms risks facing severe penalties or being cut off from the U.S. financial system.
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