Iran’s Strait of Hormuz toll booth ran through a bitcoin exchange, U.S. says

The U.S. Treasury's sanctions action targets BitBank, a cryptocurrency exchange established in Tehran in 2024, and Pishtaz Simorgh, the company that developed the exchange's software, according to a Treasury release. OFAC said BitBank moved substantial bitcoin sums — described as hundreds of millions of dollars — to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the military branch that also controls significant economic interests in the country and is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S.

Treasury officials additionally said BitBank was used to route some of the payments collected by Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, the Iranian organization that has been charging tankers between $1 million and $2 million for so-called 'safe passage' through the Strait of Hormuz. HormuzSafe, which was developed by Iran's economy ministry and promotes services including insurance, traffic control and emergency response for paying vessels, was itself sanctioned by the U.S. on July 29, the release noted.

The designation freezes any of BitBank's property subject to U.S. jurisdiction and bars Americans from dealing with the exchange. The action also includes secondary-sanctions warnings that could expose non-U.S. banks, exchanges or other intermediaries to U.S. penalties if they process transactions connected to the named parties, potentially cutting those firms off from dollar clearing or other parts of the U.S. financial system.

The Treasury release did not publish cryptocurrency wallet addresses tied to the designation. OFAC has provided wallet strings in prior crypto sanctions, which compliance teams typically use for transaction screening. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the designations demonstrate that efforts to finance the Iranian regime via digital assets are within OFAC's enforcement reach.