The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, has sanctioned Tehran-based crypto exchange BitBank, saying the platform transferred hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC. OFAC said BitBank is controlled by Iranian financier Babak Zanjani, who had already been identified in January, and that he used the platform to carry out transfers between June and July. The designation was made under Executive Order 13902. The sanctions also extend to BitBank software developer Pishtaz Simorgh and three executives at its parent company, Dot One. OFAC separately said Hormuz Safe, a Tehran entity described as selling safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, routed proceeds through BitBank starting in June; that entity had already been sanctioned in July. U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said the use of cryptocurrency to finance the Iranian regime does not fall outside OFAC’s jurisdiction. OFAC did not disclose the wallet addresses tied to the case.

A batch of crypto and macro policy developments highlighted by WuBlockchain on Sept. 18 included a cybercrime report from Japan, fresh U.S. sanctions, a new lending product from Hyperliquid, a rate hike from the Bank of Japan, yuan strength against the dollar, and new comments on tokenized market infrastructure. Japan’s National Police Agency, working with the FBI and other agencies, said the North Korea-linked group WaterPlum infected more than 30,000 devices across over 100 countries and regions between December 2025 and July 2026. Authorities said the hackers stole more than 7,000 pieces of crypto wallet information, and wallets under the group’s control received at least about $10.71 million in crypto assets. The group allegedly posed as recruiters at crypto companies and tricked job seekers into running malicious code. In a separate development, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Iranian digital asset platform BitBank, its developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, and three related individuals. Treasury said BitBank was controlled by sanctioned financier Babak Zanjani and used to move bitcoin worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps between June and July 2026. Other updates included Hyperliquid’s launch of manual lending, the Bank of Japan’s 25-basis-point rate increase to 1.25%, onshore and offshore yuan both rising past 6.7 per dollar, and plans tied to a New York Stock Exchange ATS initiative for 24/7 on-chain trading with Avalanche.

A dense wave of crypto, regulatory and macro headlines hit the market between Sept. 17 and Sept. 18. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved a temporary, conditional Innovation Exemption that allows limited trading of certain tokenized National Market System stocks on qualifying on-chain venues, while explicitly excluding synthetic products. The move came with strict conditions around issuer notice, investor rights, venue eligibility and sanctions compliance, and drew immediate reactions from SEC officials, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev and Uniswap founder Hayden Adams. At the same time, Zcash became one of the market’s most closely watched assets. ZEC briefly moved above $1,500, liquidations topped $65 million over 24 hours, and several newly created wallets withdrew tens of millions of dollars’ worth of ZEC from exchanges. Separate reports tracked a large ZEC long on Hyperliquid, a whale that closed a month-long OKX long for an estimated $8.29 million profit, and a major short seller facing roughly $30 million in unrealized losses. Elsewhere, BlackRock transferred about $285.5 million in BTC and ETH to Coinbase Prime, Zilliqa set Sept. 22 for its second exchange migration hard fork, S&P Global signed a deal to acquire OpenZeppelin, and multiple AI companies, exchanges and infrastructure projects announced product, financing and policy updates.

The U.S. Treasury Department has placed Iranian cryptocurrency exchange BitBank on its sanctions list, saying the platform was controlled by already sanctioned Iranian financier Babak Zanjani. Treasury said BitBank was used to pay fees tied to the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz and to move hundreds of millions of dollars to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC. The move was described as part of Washington’s "Operation Economic Outcast," a program aimed at disrupting Iran’s sanctions-evasion network built around digital assets. The action adds BitBank to a broader U.S. effort targeting crypto-related channels that authorities say have been used to facilitate restricted financial activity.

The U.S. Treasury Department has announced additional sanctions targeting individuals and companies linked to Iranian financier Babak Zanjani, according to a report cited by ChainCatcher from Jinshi. The stated reason for the new measures is alleged sanctions evasion. The update identifies the action as a policy and regulatory development and does not provide further details on the names of the sanctioned parties or the scope of the restrictions in the source text. The report is limited to the Treasury’s announcement and the allegation that the related parties were involved in circumventing sanctions.

Richard Teng denied a Wall Street Journal report alleging Iran-linked networks moved $850 million through Binance, saying sanctioned users were never allowed and the timing of sanctions was misrepresented.

UK authorities have begun compulsory strike-off proceedings against Zedxion Exchange Ltd after allegations that it processed about $1 billion in crypto flows linked to Iran’s IRGC, underscoring growing scrutiny of sanctions evasion via digital assets.