US sanctions BitBank over alleged Hormuz payments and IRGC transfers
On September 17, Reuters reported that the US Treasury sanctioned Iranian cryptocurrency exchange BitBank, its software developer and three associates of financier Babak Zanjani, alleging that the exchange processed safe-passage payments for ships using the Strait of Hormuz and routed hundreds of millions of dollars to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Inside Practice · SEPTEMBER 24, 2026 · 1 MIN READ
On September 17, Reuters reported that the US Treasury sanctioned Iranian cryptocurrency exchange BitBank, its software developer and three associates of financier Babak Zanjani, alleging that the exchange processed safe-passage payments for ships using the Strait of Hormuz and routed hundreds of millions of dollars to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Treasury described BitBank as part of Iran's digital-asset sanctions-evasion infrastructure; these are government allegations, not independently adjudicated findings. Banks, exchanges, shipowners and advisers should treat digital-asset settlement and maritime-service payments as a combined sanctions risk rather than separate compliance domains. Matter reviews should trace beneficial control, wallet exposure and the commercial purpose of passage-related payments, including counterparties that appear to provide ordinary software or logistics services.