Foreign Relations

U.S. Sanctions Dubai Crypto Exchange Shelbit for Moving Funds for Iran's IRGC

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Courtroom-sketch editorial illustration of a dense overlapping pile of physical commemorative cryptocurrency coins filling the frame, their embossed faces and raised emblems drawn in warm copper and ochre chalk with cross-hatched shadows, a few silver and slate-blue discs catching the light among them.

The United States Treasury designated the Shelbit cryptocurrency exchange, its Iranian-born founder Siavash Kayvanpour and a network of front companies he controls in the Emirates, Georgia and Poland for moving digital assets on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Treasury said IRGC addresses sent more than $1 million to Shelbit and received more than $2 million back, and that Kayvanpour sent over $2 million to the already designated exchange Nobitex. The Iran-based exchange Aban Tether was blocked separately for operating in Iran's financial sector. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tehran's reliance on digital assets and shadow banking shows the economic pressure campaign is working.

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