On June 2, the US Treasury Department issued sanctions against Nobitex, Iran's largest cryptocurrency platform.
The US Treasury Department accused Nobitex of handling "more than 50% of the total amount of cryptocurrencies flowing into Iran in 2025". The US Treasury Department said that the exchange has facilitated payments related to government operations, efforts to evade sanctions and transactions related to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The US Treasury Department also issued sanctions against 2 other Iranian digital asset exchanges, Wallex and Bitpin. The US also sanctioned 3 co-founders and current CEOs of Nobitex.
According to TRM Labs, Nobitex handled approximately $5 billion in transactions from 2025 to March 2026.
Bloomberg estimates that the entire cryptocurrency market of Iran reached about 7.8 billion USD in March.
Iran is largely isolated from the global financial system due to US and European sanctions imposed for many years before the conflict broke out. Cryptocurrency has opened a path for people and businesses to trade with the rest of the world.
Experts believe that digital asset platforms have been used to evade sanctions imposed on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and become a safe financial haven for people affected by rising inflation.
