Crypto
The Ledger Turned Its Lights On: Inside the BitBank Sanctions
On September 17, the United States Treasury turned its full attention to BitBank, an Iranian digital asset exchange it describes as a priority venture controlled by sanctioned financier Babak Zanjani. The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated the exchange, its software developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, and three senior figures in Zanjani's network, under Executive Order 13902.
Treasury says Zanjani used BitBank between June and July 2026 to move hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It also says the previously sanctioned Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority has used BitBank since June to pass along payments it collected, including passage fees charged to ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz.
Here is where the story becomes a showcase for open ledgers. TRM Labs, the blockchain intelligence firm tracking this network all year, started on chain in January and identified roughly 1 billion dollars in IRGC linked activity flowing through two UK registered exchanges, Zedcex and Zedxion. Corporate records then connected that flow to Zanjani, and each designation since, in January, July, and now September, has mapped another layer of the same network.
The latest layer is a full digital ecosystem. BitBank sits inside Zanjani's Dot One network alongside the MyDot social platform, the DOTO digital asset, and the Dot One Smart Chain, an EVM compatible chain using DOTO as its native asset. Users earn stars on MyDot, convert them to DOTO, and trade through BitBank's peer to peer marketplace. Investigators followed the people, the filings, and the infrastructure, and the chain of connections led straight to the exchange.
The three newly designated individuals, Pishtaz Simorgh chief executive Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein, Dot One board vice chairman Seyed Adel Heidari, and Dot One executive Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, show how precisely the mapping now works. Treasury describes them as central to the sanctions evasion activity, which means the net is closing around operators, and the public ledger keeps receipts. TRM notes the network keeps building its next layer after each designation, from UK registered exchanges to a commercial ecosystem to a proprietary chain, which is why mapping people and infrastructure beats screening names alone.
What it means for you: this is the open blockchain doing exactly what its design promises, making money flows visible so investigators, journalists, and compliance teams can follow them. Every designation like this one makes the legitimate crypto economy cleaner and stronger, because transparent rails reward honest builders and leave shadows with fewer places to hide. Sound money works best in daylight.
Quick answers
What is this story about?
On September 17, the United States Treasury turned its full attention to BitBank, an Iranian digital asset exchange it describes as a priority venture controlled by sanctioned financier Babak Zanjani. The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated the exchange, its software developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, and three senior figures in Zanjani's network, under Executive Order 13902.
Why does this story matter?
What it means for you: this is the open blockchain doing exactly what its design promises, making money flows visible so investigators, journalists, and compliance teams can follow them. Every designation like this one makes the legitimate crypto economy cleaner and stronger, because transparent rails reward honest builders and leave shadows with fewer places to hide. Sound money works best in daylight.
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