OFAC Sanctions Iran's BitBank, 4 Others in Hormuz Toll Case

Five names were added to the US sanctions list on September 17, 2026: the Iranian digital-asset exchange BitBank, its software developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, and three associates of the sanctioned Iranian financier Babak Zanjani. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control alleges that Zanjani used BitBank between June and July 2026 to move "hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin" to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and that the already-designated Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority has used the same exchange since June to pass on what it collects from ships.

What OFAC actually designated, and what it did not quantify

According to Treasury's press release, the action falls under Operation Economic Outcast, described as the administration's whole-of-government economic campaign against Iran and its enablers, with Secretary Scott Bessent quoted saying that efforts to finance the Iranian regime using cryptocurrencies are "not beyond OFAC's reach." The release names the three designated individuals as Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein and Seyed Adel Heidari, and says Zanjani has advertised BitBank's services on his social media accounts since at least 2024.

Blockchain-analytics firm TRM Labs, which has tracked the network through 2026, says the designation was issued under Executive Order 13902, the authority behind Operation Economic Outcast. Crypto.news reported that BitBank and Pishtaz Simorgh were designated for activity in Iran's digital-asset sector, that Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein is Pishtaz Simorgh's chief executive and Seyed Adel Heidari a vice chairman of Dot One's board, and it made a point worth repeating: these are administrative sanctions actions, not criminal convictions.

Two source discrepancies should be flagged rather than smoothed over. First, on timing: Treasury's release and TRM Labs date the action to September 17, 2026, a Thursday, as does Marine Insight; CoinDesk's write-up refers in one passage to "Wednesday's action." Second, on size: a KuCoin news flash summarising the same designation says at one point that the exchange was used to transfer "tens of millions" of dollars in bitcoin, while its own body text, Treasury, The Block, CoinDesk and Decrypt all use "hundreds of millions." Treasury itself does not publish an itemised dollar total or a set of wallet addresses in the release; the flows are described only in that range.

The Hormuz toll scheme the payments came from

The designated exchange sits at the end of a maritime revenue scheme. CoinDesk reported that Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, sanctioned on July 29, has charged tankers between $1 million and $2 million for "safe passage" through the strait, was developed by Iran's economy ministry, and advertises insurance, traffic control and emergency response to vessels that pay. The Maritime Executive reported that Iranian forces began an informal safe-passage practice in March at a rumoured rate of up to $2 million per transit, later formalised as an "insurance" fee handled by Hormuz Safe and the Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company, both designated in July. Decrypt reported that the July action described the coverage as mandatory for vessels transiting the strait. OFAC has said shipping lawyers consider the arrangement a violation of transit rights under the Law of the Sea, per CoinDesk.

Key figures

How to read the numbers, and what stays unknown

The two headline figures measure different things and should not be multiplied together. Treasury's "hundreds of millions" covers bitcoin Zanjani allegedly moved to the IRGC over roughly two months; the $1m-$2m per-transit charge is a price per ship reported by CoinDesk. Treasury says Hormuz Safe used BitBank to pass along payments it collected, but the published material does not say what share of the bitcoin total came from transit fees rather than other business. Nor does it disclose transaction counts, addresses or the exchange's own balances.

Traffic data sets the ceiling on the toll scheme's plausible take. Al Jazeera reported an average of about five vessels a day through the strait between July 15 and August 23, close to 95% below pre-war levels, with direct crude flows averaging 2.2 million barrels a day according to Kpler. Lloyd's List Intelligence, cited by USNI News, recorded transits down 52.4% in the week from July 20 versus the prior week, and noted that ships sailing with transponders off mean visible counts understate true flow. Fewer paying transits at a reported $1m-$2m each is arithmetically hard to reconcile with sustained hundreds of millions from tolls alone, which supports Treasury's framing that BitBank handled broader regime flows rather than fee income only.

The compliance consequence is the part that reaches non-Iranian firms. A designation blocks property under US jurisdiction and bars US persons from dealing with the target; CoinDesk reported that the secondary-sanctions tag attached to this action extends exposure to foreign firms, so an exchange in Dubai or a bank in Istanbul processing BitBank flows can itself be cut off from the US financial system. Cryptopolitan reported that Operation Economic Outcast, launched August 24, 2026, included a first-ever sectoral determination under EO 13902 allowing OFAC to sanction parties operating in or supporting Iran's digital-assets sector without proving a separate terrorism or designated-party link. That lowers the evidentiary bar for future listings; it does not, by itself, tell anyone which platform is next.

Context on scale comes from the analytics side, with a caveat about periods. TRM Labs traced roughly $6.3 billion in flows through Shelbit between May 2024 and March 2026 and called it a settlement layer for Iran's illicit economy; coverage of that report stressed the volumes reflect years of activity, not a single transfer. That multi-year blockchain-flow figure is not comparable to Treasury's two-month allegation against BitBank, and neither is a measure of profit, fees or funds actually available to the IRGC.

No dated next step has been announced in the material reviewed here. The pattern of 2026 actions is documented — Nobitex and three other Iranian platforms on June 2, Hormuz Safe and Persian Gulf Marine Insurance on July 29, Shelbit and Aban Tether on August 7, BitBank on September 17 — but a cadence is not a schedule, and no wind-down deadline, delisting petition or court proceeding tied to BitBank has been published.