On August 7, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on two Iran-linked crypto platforms, Shelbit and Aban Tether, accusing them of facilitating illicit transactions for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other state-connected entities. The action marks the fourth distinct round of crypto-specific Iran sanctions in 2026 under the 'Economic Fury' campaign, with designations now occurring roughly every one to two months.
Shelbit, registered in Dubai but unlicensed, acted more as a settlement network than a traditional exchange. Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs traced over $6.3 billion in flow-through between May 2024 and March 2026. The platform's wallet behavior showed near-perfect matching of incoming and outgoing amounts (within 0.1%), no significant held balances, and rapid rotation of high-volume wallets every one to four months—patterns consistent with relaying payments rather than custodial trading. Approximately 30% of Tron addresses linked to the operation never transacted, suggesting pre-provisioned wallets were cycled into use.
IRGC-linked wallets sent more than $1 million to Shelbit addresses and received over $2 million back. Wallets controlled by Shelbit founder Siavash Kayvanpour sent over $2 million to Nobitex, Iran's largest exchange (already sanctioned in June). Kayvanpour and associated companies in Georgia, Poland, and the UAE were also designated.
The overwhelming majority of Shelbit's activity—88% or $5.56 billion—moved over the Tron blockchain, almost entirely in Tether's USDT (TRC-20). Ethereum accounted for $382 million, Bitcoin $235 million, and BNB Smart Chain $140 million. Average transaction sizes ($54,500 on Tron, $249,000 on Bitcoin) pointed to business settlement, not retail trading. OFAC noted Shelbit also serviced a network of over 2,000 gambling websites linked to convicted Iranian influencers, laundering tens of millions of dollars.
Aban Tether, domestically based in Iran, was sanctioned for processing transactions with Nobitex and other blacklisted platforms like Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex. It is not affiliated with stablecoin issuer Tether.
Critically, TRM Labs uncovered $318 million in transactions between Shelbit and Russia's A7 payment network, making it the largest exposure to any single named sanctioned entity. A7, sanctioned in August 2025, operates cross-border payment infrastructure for Russian users evading Western restrictions, partly owned by sanctioned lender Promsvyazbank. Additional Russian links included $16.3 million with Grinex, the exchange that emerged after Garantex was disrupted, as well as connections to Rapira and TokenSpot.
While Treasury did not accuse Tether of wrongdoing, the case highlights a vulnerability: stablecoin issuers can freeze tokens. Tether previously froze $131 million in wallets tied to Iran's central bank in coordination with U.S. authorities, part of a broader compliance pattern. The EU, meanwhile, introduced a mechanism allowing it to ban transactions with crypto providers in entire third countries aiding Russian sanctions evasion.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared that 'Economic Fury is working,' vowing to keep dismantling illicit networks. The State Department is offering up to $15 million for information disrupting Iran's military financial machinery.
