The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has expanded its cryptocurrency sanctions against Iran, adding local trading platform Nobitex to the list and naming smaller platforms such as Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex. The U.S. claims these platforms are used to handle digital asset funds linked to Iran and to help circumvent existing sanctions.
Nobitex is accused of accounting for the majority of inflows.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, Nobitex processed approximately half of Iran's cryptocurrency inflows in 2025. Some of these funds are allegedly linked to the Iranian military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The U.S. also alleges that the Central Bank of Iran used Nobitex to support the weakening Iranian rial.
As the scope of sanctions expanded, Nobitex Chairman Amir Hossein Rad, founder Seyed Mohammad, and CEO Sayed Ali Khoee were also included in the sanctions list.
The US is simultaneously investigating crypto funds.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant stated that the U.S. will continue to track funds flowing through the banking system and encrypted channels to deter Iran from developing nuclear weapons. He claimed that the Iranian government is using digital asset technology to circumvent sanctions and transfer wealth, and that Iran's current economic difficulties demonstrate the effectiveness of the "maximum pressure" policy.
This move follows another development last week, when the U.S. disclosed that it had seized approximately $1 billion worth of crypto assets allegedly linked to the Iranian government.
Iran has issued a rebuttal.
The report mentions that Iran proposed charging fees related to Bitcoin earlier this year. Subsequently, the US further expanded restrictions on Iranian cryptocurrency platforms. How this move will affect US-Iran relations and the situation between Iran and Israel remains unclear.
The Iranian embassy in Japan refuted the US claims, stating that the measures were intended to cripple the Iranian economy and incite domestic opposition to the current leadership. The embassy also stated that equating circumventing unilateral sanctions directly with "corruption" is an unbalanced statement.
As sanctions, asset seizures, and cross-border fund tracking continue to escalate, the role of crypto assets in the Middle East is becoming more direct. The debate continues surrounding their "non-sovereign" nature and whether they can serve as a safe-haven asset in geopolitical conflicts.
