US Treasury Sanctions Tehran Crypto Exchange BitBank Over Role in Strait of Hormuz Toll Scheme

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added the crypto exchange BitBank, based in Tehran's Argentina Square (with websites bitbank.com and bitbank3.com), to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list in a sanctions update published on 17 September 2026 (26 Shahrivar 1405). The exchange, listed under financial and insurance activities, was designated under the Iran sanctions authority IRAN-EO13902.

According to CoinDesk, the US Treasury alleges BitBank moved hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bitcoin to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and processed "toll" payments from ships paying to transit the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil chokepoint. Sahmino's price board showed bitcoin trading around 78,022 dollars as of 16:03 Tehran time on 18 September (27 Shahrivar).