US targets Shelbit over Iran-linked crypto flows

The United States has imposed sanctions on cryptocurrency platform Shelbit, its founder Siavash Kayvanpour and affiliated companies after investigators linked the network to billions of dollars in digital-asset flows involving Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other sanctioned entities.

The action by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control places Shelbit and associated entities on Washington’s sanctions list, effectively freezing assets under US jurisdiction and exposing counterparties to significant sanctions risks. The measures also extend Washington’s widening campaign against cryptocurrency infrastructure used to bypass restrictions on Iran’s financial system.

Blockchain analysis has traced more than $6.3 billion in transactions through Shelbit-linked infrastructure between May 2024 and March 2026. About 88% of the identified volume, equivalent to roughly $5.56 billion, moved through the Tron blockchain, overwhelmingly in dollar-linked stablecoins. Ethereum accounted for about $382 million, Bitcoin for approximately $235 million and BNB Smart Chain for around $140 million.

The scale is considerably larger than the specific transactions cited in the sanctions action. IRGC-controlled digital currency addresses transferred more than $1 million to Shelbit addresses, while more than $2 million moved from Shelbit wallets to addresses controlled by the Guards. Wallets belonging to or controlled by Kayvanpour also sent more than $2 million to Nobitex, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, which was sanctioned by Washington in June.

Kayvanpour, who was born in Iran and has held citizenship from Dominica and Afghanistan, operated a multinational corporate structure spanning the UAE, Georgia and Poland. OFAC identified Georgia-registered SHPS Shelbit as the operator of Shelbit Exchange, while UAE-based Shelbit General Trading LLC also operated commercially under the Shelbit name.

The sanctions also cover Poland-based Shelbit Technologies Ltd, along with Dubai-based Crypto Home DMCC and NFT Home DMCC. Shelbit General Trading had already faced enforcement action in the UAE over unlicensed virtual-asset activities. Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority ordered the company in July to cease such activity, citing concerns extending to cross-border transactions and the integrity of the UAE financial system.

Separate blockchain analysis indicates Shelbit functioned less like a conventional customer exchange and more like a high-volume settlement conduit. Incoming and outgoing amounts across major wallets matched to within about 0.1%, while balances were typically negligible after transactions were processed. Its busiest wallet received about $357.59 million and sent roughly $357.58 million across more than 16,500 transfers.

Shelbit also repeatedly changed its wallet infrastructure, replacing high-volume addresses every one to four months. Monthly transaction volumes climbed sharply during 2025, reaching about $735 million in November after remaining above $600 million for six consecutive months. The pattern has heightened scrutiny of intermediary wallet networks that can obscure direct links between sanctioned actors and mainstream digital-asset platforms.

A substantial portion of the activity was connected to a sprawling Persian-language online gambling network. The operation encompassed more than 2,000 websites and continued accessing Iran’s domestic payment system despite gambling being prohibited under Iranian law. Blockchain investigators identified tens of millions of dollars moving between gambling platforms and Shelbit infrastructure.

Shelbit has denied knowingly participating in money laundering, terrorism financing, sanctions evasion, illegal gambling or transactions undertaken for sanctioned military or government organisations. It has also said it ceased operations in January 2026. Its website had previously gone offline for months before being reactivated after scrutiny of the exchange intensified.

The sanctions action also covered Aban Tether, an Iran-based cryptocurrency exchange accused of processing transactions for already sanctioned entities, including Nobitex. Washington has steadily broadened its targeting of Iran-linked digital-asset infrastructure during 2026, adding several exchanges and associated operators to sanctions lists as cryptocurrency becomes a more important channel for cross-border settlement outside conventional banking networks.

The Shelbit network also showed links beyond Iran. Blockchain tracing identified approximately $318 million involving A7, a sanctioned Russian payment network, as well as exposure to other sanctioned Russian and Central Asian services. Another roughly $2 million was transferred in September 2025 to a wallet later designated by Israel as Hamas-related infrastructure, illustrating how the same settlement channels can intersect with multiple sanctioned networks.

Arabian Post – Crypto News Network