The United States on Friday sanctioned Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Shelbit, alleging that the unlicensed platform processed millions of dollars in digital assets for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other entities linked to the Iranian state.
The Treasury Department’s action follows a Reuters investigation published July 31 that identified Shelbit as a central hub in an alleged $4 billion Iranian sanctions-evasion network. The investigation found that the exchange processed cryptocurrency transactions on behalf of Iran’s central bank, a major illegal online gambling operation, and crypto addresses that the Israeli government has linked to the IRGC.
Washington also sanctioned Siavash Kayvanpour, the Iranian expatriate who founded Shelbit, accusing him of providing material support to the IRGC and Nobitex, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
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The Treasury Department sanctioned Nobitex on June 2, also following a Reuters investigation, accusing the exchange of helping the Iranian government circumvent Western sanctions.
“Treasury will hunt down and dismantle the illicit financial networks that keep the regime afloat,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
The latest measures broaden Washington’s campaign against Iran’s use of cryptocurrency to access the international financial system, particularly as sanctions and restrictions on conventional banking channels push Iranian entities toward alternative payment networks.
The Treasury also sanctioned Aban Tether, an Iran-based cryptocurrency exchange, on Friday. The department said Aban Tether processed millions of dollars in transactions for sanctioned Iranian entities, including Nobitex.
Shelbit’s role is particularly notable because its website had been offline for months, preventing customers from conducting transactions, while the platform continued processing cryptocurrency transfers. The exchange remained active during the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, according to the Reuters investigation.
The website was reactivated the day after the investigation was published.
Shelbit denied the allegations in a statement posted on its website on August 1, saying it “categorically rejects any suggestion” that it knowingly participated in money laundering, terrorist financing, illegal gambling, sanctions evasion or activity on behalf of sanctioned military or government organizations.
The company also said it had ceased operations in January 2026. Shelbit and Kayvanpour did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Crypto Network Extended Beyond Iran
The Treasury’s allegations point to a network in which cryptocurrency moved through several different types of activity, making it harder for authorities to identify the ultimate beneficiaries of transactions.
According to the Reuters investigation, tens of millions of dollars that passed through Shelbit were traced to what was suspected to be an Iranian Bitcoin mining operation. Mining generates newly created cryptocurrency and can provide a source of digital assets that can subsequently enter the financial system.
Millions of dollars more were linked to an illegal online gambling network operated by two prominent Iranian social media influencers, Reuters reported.
The Treasury Department highlighted the gambling operation in its announcement, saying the Iranian government’s willingness to allow it to operate demonstrated what it described as the regime’s “hypocrisy and corruption.”
The allegations illustrate how cryptocurrency can create financial links between otherwise separate activities. Digital assets generated through mining, payments associated with online gambling and transfers involving sanctioned entities can move across exchanges and wallets, potentially obscuring the origin and destination of funds.
For U.S. authorities, that makes crypto exchanges an important enforcement target as they seek to restrict Iran’s ability to move money internationally.
The U.S. sanctions came shortly after Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, or VARA, issued a notice accusing Shelbit of violating money-laundering and terrorism-financing laws.
VARA said on July 24 that the concerns identified in its investigation went beyond consumer protection and involved cross-border transactions that could affect the integrity of the UAE’s financial system.
“The exposure identified by VARA extends beyond consumer protection to more egregious cross-border transactions with the propension to impact the integrity of the UAE financial system,” the regulator said.
The timing adds another layer to the case. Shelbit was operating in Dubai’s digital-asset ecosystem while facing scrutiny from both U.S. authorities and the UAE’s virtual-asset regulator, highlighting the growing regulatory pressure on crypto platforms that serve customers or counterparties connected to sanctioned jurisdictions.
The sanctions also demonstrate the increasing importance of blockchain investigations to U.S. financial enforcement. Unlike traditional bank transfers, cryptocurrency transactions are recorded on public blockchains, allowing investigators to trace wallet activity even when the identity of the individuals controlling those wallets is not immediately known.
That visibility does not eliminate the use of intermediaries, exchanges or other obfuscation techniques, but it can give authorities a transaction trail that connects apparently unrelated wallets and businesses.
The case involving Shelbit, Nobitex and Aban Tether shows how Washington is increasingly targeting the infrastructure through which sanctioned Iranian entities can convert, transfer and access digital assets, rather than focusing only on the final recipients of the funds. The broader test for U.S. sanctions enforcement will be whether shutting down or designating individual exchanges can disrupt the networks or simply push Iranian users toward new platforms and less regulated jurisdictions.