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Friday, September 18, 2026

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Treasury · Friday, September 18, 2026

Treasury blacklists Iranian BitBank crypto exchange

The File desk · Sep. 18, 2026, 10:20 a.m. ET

Confirmed4 primary sources

Status

Confirmed (Treasury press release sb0632 and OFAC SDN update, Sept. 17, 2026)
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control blacklisted BitBank on Wednesday, naming it a digital-asset exchange controlled by previously sanctioned Iranian financier Babak Zanjani. Treasury also designated software developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company and three Zanjani associates. The release says Zanjani used BitBank in June and July 2026 to move hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and that a previously designated shipping entity also used BitBank to move payments. U.S. persons’ property of those named is blocked. The action sits under Operation Economic Outcast and ’s Iran digital-asset sector authority. The State Department issued a matching statement the same day.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control blacklisted BitBank on Wednesday.
Treasury named the firm a digital-asset exchange controlled by previously sanctioned Iranian financier Babak Zanjani.
It also designated software developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company and three Zanjani associates: Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein, and Seyed Adel Heidari.
The release says Zanjani used BitBank in June and July 2026 to move hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
A previously designated shipping entity, Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, also used BitBank to move payments, Treasury says.
U.S. persons’ property of those named is blocked.
The action sits under Operation Economic Outcast and ’s Iran digital-asset sector authority.
The State Department issued a matching statement the same day.
How we know

What is still unknown or disputed

  • Exact Bitcoin amounts beyond “hundreds of millions,” and any same-day criminal charges timed to the designation, are not in the fetched releases.

Primary sources

Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.

  1. Source 1

    Operation Economic Outcast Disrupts Digital Asset Exchange Enabling the Iranian Regime

    U.S. Department of the Treasury · September 17, 2026

    Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated BitBank, a priority digital assets venture controlled by OFAC-designated Iranian financier Babak Zanjani (Zanjani), as part of Operation Economic Outcast…

    https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0632

  2. Source 2

    Iran-related Designations; Cuba Designations; Belarus-related Designations Removals

    Office of Foreign Assets Control · September 17, 2026

    BITBANK (Arabic: بیتبانک) (a.k.a. BITBANK3)… Organization Established Date 2024… [IRAN] [IRAN-EO13902].

    https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20260917

  3. Source 3

    Operation Economic Outcast Dismantles Iran’s Sanctions Evasion Network

    U.S. Department of State · September 17, 2026

    Today’s designations utilize authorities under Executive Order (E.O.) 13902, implemented as part of Economic D-Day, to target Iran’s digital assets sector.

    https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesman/2026/09/operation-economic-outcast-dismantles-irans-sanctions-evasion-network

  4. Source 4

    Executive Order 13902 (full text via UCSB American Presidency Project)

    The American Presidency Project / White House (Jan. 10, 2020) · January 10, 2020

    Imposing Sanctions With Respect to Additional Sectors of Iran.

    https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-13902-imposing-sanctions-with-respect-additional-sectors-iran