US sanctions two more Iranian crypto exchanges under ‘Economic Fury’ campaign

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned crypto exchanges Shelbit and Aban Tether on Friday, expanding the Trump administration's "Economic Fury" campaign against Iranian financial networks.

The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control alleged that the exchanges were being used to move large volumes of crypto, evade sanctions and support the Revolutionary Guard Corps and other groups designated by the U.S. as terrorist organizations.

OFAC also sanctioned Shelbit operator Siavash Kayvanpour and several other companies he owns and controls across Georgia, Poland and the UAE.

"The Iranian regime’s reliance on digital assets and shadow banking networks is further evidence that Economic Fury is working," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. "Whether in dollars, rials, or crypto, Treasury will hunt down and dismantle the illicit financial networks that keep the regime afloat."

The Treasury Dept. said wallets belonging to the IRGC send more than $1 million in crypto to Shelbit and received over $2 million from the exchange. Other wallets tied to Kayvanpour also allegedly transferred more than $2 million to Nobitex, Iran's largest crypto exchange, which the U.S. first sanctioned in June.

According to Treasury, Shelbit also serviced a network of more than 2,000 gambling websites promoted by a pair of Iranian influencers, which it alleges laundered tens of millions of dollars.

The fresh wave of sanctions comes a week after Reuters published an investigation that found Shelbit had processed at least $4 billion over the past two years that involved a network of Iranian gambling websites, the Iranian central bank and other entities linked to the IRGC.

At least $676 million moved from Shelbit-linked wallets to Binance during that period, including roughly $540 million after Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority fined Shelbit in January 2025 for operating without a license.

VARA issued another enforcement action against Shelbit in July and ordered it to halt its unlicensed operations. Binance previously told The Block that Shelbit did not hold an account on its platform and disputed the $540 million figure, while saying the accounts associated with Shelbit users had already been investigated, frozen and reported to the authorities.

OFAC also sanctioned Aban Tether, an Iran-based exchange that the Treasury Dept. said processed millions of dollars in transactions involving Nobitex and other previously sanctioned platforms like Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex.

Nobitex processed more than half of all Iranian crypto inflows in 2025, according to OFAC.