The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps moved roughly $1 billion through two crypto exchanges registered in the UK since 2023, according to a report prepared by blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs and cited by The Washington Post. The report says the transfers were structured to evade international sanctions and argues that Iran has turned crypto from scattered experimentation into a functioning financial infrastructure.
Two exchange brands tied to one operating network
TRM Labs said Zedcex and Zedxion appeared to function as extensions of the same operation despite using different brand names. The firm found that 56% of total transaction volume on the two platforms between 2023 and 2025 came from wallets linked to the IRGC. Most of the activity used USDT on the Tron network.
The volumes climbed sharply over a short period. TRM Labs reported $24 million in 2023, then $619 million in 2024, followed by another $410 million in 2025. In the report’s reading, those figures show crypto being used as more than an alternative payments rail. It is being deployed as a shadow banking channel for sanctions evasion.
Investigators used small deposits and withdrawals to map wallets
To examine the exchanges’ internal wallet structure, investigators made small deposits and withdrawals, then traced the resulting fund flows. Using that approach, they mapped 187 transactions connected to different wallet addresses that Israeli authorities had reportedly linked to IRGC control.
One tracked transfer involved a $10 million payment from an IRGC-linked wallet to addresses controlled by a Yemeni individual. The report says that person was sanctioned by the US in 2021 for smuggling Iranian oil to fund the Houthis. The case is presented as an example of crypto transfers being used to finance regional proxy groups.
Older sanctions-evasion channels reappear through digital assets
TRM Labs also linked the exchanges to businessman Babek Zencani, who had previously helped Iran bypass oil sanctions. The report says he was convicted on corruption charges for building a financial network for the Iranian government, had his death sentence reduced to imprisonment, and was recently released. The finding points to older sanctions-evasion structures resurfacing through digital asset rails.
Both exchanges state on their websites that they follow anti-money laundering rules. Zedcex lists Iran among banned countries, while Zedxion does not show a similar restriction. Neither exchange, Iran’s mission to the United Nations, nor the UK Treasury’s sanctions office responded to questions, according to the report.