OFAC’s designation of Nobitex, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, targeted the country’s crypto infrastructure. The Treasury’s “Economic Fury” campaign hit four exchanges in one move: Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex.
Nobitex didn’t operate quietly. The Treasury cited it processing more than 50% of all Iranian digital asset inflows in 2025, with IRGC-affiliated ransomware actors’ wallets in the transaction set. The Central Bank of Iran accessed hundreds of millions of dollars in stablecoins through Nobitex to shore up the rial. Four executives landed on the SDN list: chairman Amir Hossein Rad, CEO Seyed Ali Khoee, co-founder Seyed Mohammad Ali Aghamir, and blockchain lead Seyed Mohammad Aghamir.
Chainalysis put Iran’s crypto sector at nearly $7.8 billion in 2025. IRGC-linked addresses accounted for more than half of all value received in Q4 2025. Wallex took 12% of inflows, Bitpin 10%. Those numbers put Nobitex at the center of Iran’s functional payment infrastructure.
I read the OFAC enforcement structure carefully. The prior pattern on entity sanctions usually runs entity first, individual escalation later — often when a sanctioned exchange tries to resurrect through a renamed vehicle or nominee directors. This action names the chairman and CEO on day one. That’s the faster, harder playbook, and it closes the obvious restructuring workaround before it can get started.
The asset freeze is live under IEEPA authority. Any U.S.-jurisdictional property of the designated parties is blocked. Worth auditing your counterparty screening lists before the end of this week.
Rebecca Lauren