US Sanctions Iranian Crypto Exchange BitBank Over Bitcoin Tolls on Hormuz Shipping

On 17 September 2026, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned BitBank, an Iranian cryptocurrency exchange that Washington says served as the payment channel behind Iran's Hormuz Safe shipping scheme. According to Treasury, the platform handled payments linked to commercial vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz and moved hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in roughly two months, between June and July 2026.

Treasury says BitBank is controlled by Babak Zanjani, an Iranian financier who was designated by OFAC in January 2026. Zanjani was sentenced to death in Iran in 2016 for embezzling funds from the National Iranian Oil Company. His sentence was commuted in 2024, and by 2025 he had publicly re-emerged as a backer of projects tied to the Iranian government. US officials say he has promoted BitBank on his social media accounts since at least 2024, the year the exchange was set up.

The same action targeted Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, the developer of BitBank's trading software. The firm is registered at the same Tehran address as the exchange and is a subsidiary of Dot One Value Creation Group, the already sanctioned holding company at the center of Zanjani's business empire. Three of his associates were also designated: Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein and Seyed Adel Heidari. Treasury describes the first as involved in most of Zanjani's sanctions evasion activity, including oil exports, and says he brokered digital asset transactions whose proceeds ended up with the IRGC.

All five designations were issued under Executive Order 13902, which Washington extended in August to cover anyone operating in Iran's digital asset sector. Any property of the designated parties under US jurisdiction is now frozen, and US persons are generally barred from doing business with them. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent presented the move as proof that attempts to finance the Iranian regime through cryptocurrencies fall within OFAC's reach.

The Hormuz Safe scheme dates back to March 2026, a few weeks after the US and Israeli strikes on Iran that began on 28 February, when Tehran announced that ships would have to pay for safe passage through the strait. Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, a digital insurance platform developed by Iran's economy ministry, advertises insurance, traffic control, security and emergency response services to vessels that pay. Tankers have reportedly been charged between $1 million and $2 million per transit, settled in bitcoin or stablecoins. The policies notably cover risks such as seizure by Iran itself, which is why Washington describes the arrangement as extortion. Shipping lawyers have also argued that such charges breach transit rights under the Law of the Sea.

The US response has escalated step by step. OFAC first warned shipowners on 1 May 2026 that paying Iranian tolls could expose them to sanctions. In late July, Treasury widened its action against Zanjani's network, targeting his Dot One conglomerate as well as companies in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates that supported his UK-registered exchanges Zedcex and Zedxion. Those two platforms, designated in January, have processed more than $94 billion in transactions since 2022, much of it linked to IRGC activity. Analysts note that Dubai has become the main commercial hub of this network, with UAE companies providing more stable infrastructure than the UK entities. On 29 July, OFAC designated Hormuz Safe and the Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company, together with eight shadow fleet tankers.

On 24 August, Treasury launched Operation Economic Outcast, a campaign designed to cut Iran's remaining economic lifelines. It extended sanctions exposure to several additional sectors of the Iranian economy, including digital assets and shipping, proposed cutting off the UAE branches of Banque Misr from US correspondent accounts, and on 4 September designated Turkey-based Golden Global Bank. The BitBank listing is the latest step in this campaign and reveals, for the first time, the financial route that transit payments allegedly followed to reach the IRGC.

The designation sharply raises compliance risks for shipowners, charterers, insurers and financial institutions. Any operator that paid Hormuz Safe premiums, and any exchange or payment provider that processed funds tied to BitBank, now faces potential secondary sanctions. OFAC has urged maritime service providers to carry out enhanced due diligence on vessels transiting the strait, including checks on voyage plans that pass through Iranian territorial waters. Crypto compliance teams also face heavier screening obligations, although Treasury did not publish specific wallet addresses with the BitBank listing, which makes blockchain tracing harder. For shipping companies, the dilemma is becoming stark: paying Iran exposes them to US penalties, while refusing leaves them exposed to attacks in the strait.

As of 25 September 2026, the Strait of Hormuz is still far from normal traffic more than 200 days after the crisis began. Maritime intelligence firm Windward counted only 10 inbound and 2 outbound transits on 23 September, the same day a cargo vessel was struck by a projectile and caught fire in the strait. Brent crude settled at $106.60 per barrel after Houthi missiles targeted the Yanbu area, the Red Sea outlet of Saudi Arabia's pipeline that bypasses Hormuz. Tehran has not abandoned its toll model and claimed last month that it had reached a revenue-sharing arrangement with Oman on future transit fees, which Muscat did not confirm.

Diplomatic signals remain mixed. A senior Iranian official offered to reopen the strait within seven days if the US naval blockade were lifted, while reports on 24 September indicated that a phased US-Iran reopening deal was being explored through Qatar, although nothing has been agreed so far. Until a settlement emerges, Washington is expected to keep targeting the financial channels that allow Iran to monetize transits, and maritime operators should treat any request for a safe passage payment, insurance policy or security service linked to Iranian entities as a major sanctions red flag.