The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned BitBank, an Iranian cryptocurrency exchange, as part of Operation Economic Outcast targeting Iran. The measures target Iranian financier Babak Zanjani, software developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, and three of his associates. Since June, Iran’s Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority has used BitBank to transfer bitcoin to the Iranian regime. The U.S. Treasury stated that Iran has ramped up its use of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, to bypass economic sanctions in place for decades. In July, the United States had already frozen cryptocurrency linked to the Iranian regime, mostly in the form of Tether’s USDT stablecoin.
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