The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on BitBank and several individuals linked to Iranian financier Babak Zanjani, accusing them of operating a cryptocurrency network used to evade sanctions.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also designated BitBank’s developer, Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, along with Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein and Seyed Adel Heidari. The measures were announced under Treasury’s “Operation Economic Outcast.”
According to OFAC, Zanjani used BitBank between June and July to move hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin, with the funds ultimately reaching Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as part of efforts to bypass U.S. sanctions. BitBank has marketed itself as an Iranian digital-asset exchange since at least 2024.
