US Treasury sanctions Shelbit and Aban Tether over Iran-linked crypto
The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated digital asset exchanges Shelbit and Aban Tether and operator Siavash Kayvanpour for facilitating crypto transfers tied to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. OFAC said IRGC wallets sent more than $1 million into Shelbit and that Shelbit returned over $2 million to Guard wallets; Kayvanpour ran Shelbit from Georgia and used front companies in Poland and the UAE. The agency linked Shelbit to laundering tens of millions for a Persian-language gambling network and noted large flows to Binance, while Aban Tether moved millions with previously blocked Iranian platforms, prompting stablecoin freezes.
Treasury sanctioned exchanges for moving funds linked to the IRGC.
Context
Treasury actions followed traced transfers between IRGC-linked wallets and Shelbit. The move builds on an earlier block of Nobitex and other U.S. steps this year. More designations or wallet freezes could follow as enforcement continues.
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