Treasury sanctions crypto exchanges tied to Iran laundering

The U.S. Treasury on Tuesday sanctioned several cryptocurrency exchanges it says were used to launder millions of dollars for Iranian entities, blocking those platforms from the U.S. financial system and restricting Americans from doing business with them.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control identified the platforms and specific virtual currency wallet addresses it says moved funds for Iranian government entities and linked networks. The designations freeze any property under U.S. jurisdiction and generally prohibit U.S. persons from engaging in transactions with the named exchanges.

Officials described patterns investigators found, including the use of mixers, chain-hopping across multiple blockchains and layering transactions through third-party accounts to obscure the origin and destination of funds. Treasury investigators traced millions of dollars of transactions that they say ultimately reached accounts controlled by Iranian-linked actors.

Treasury said the action followed interagency investigations that combined blockchain analytics, traditional financial intelligence and international cooperation. The department worked with foreign counterparts and private blockchain analysis firms to map the flows and identify the wallets it designated.

The designations include digital wallet identifiers so financial institutions and cryptocurrency firms can block or report transactions tied to those addresses. The department urged private-sector partners to strengthen screening of crypto flows and to file suspicious-activity reports with regulators when appropriate.

Treasury noted that exchanges that fail to maintain robust anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer controls risk asset freezes, loss of access to U.S. banking services and increased regulatory scrutiny. The department warned that individuals and firms that knowingly facilitate evasion of sanctions could themselves be designated.

The sanctions are part of ongoing U.S. efforts to restrict Iran’s access to international financial channels. The Treasury described cryptocurrencies as one of several tools that have been used to move funds despite sanctions, and said the reported crypto activity represents a portion of Iran’s broader financial flows.