U.S. Treasury probes crypto exchanges over Iran sanctions evasion, TRM Labs says

The U.S. Department of the Treasury is scrutinizing crypto platforms, not just wallets, for enabling Iran’s sanctions evasion, according to TRM Labs’ Ari Redbord. What to know : The U.S. Treasury is investigating whether Iran has used crypto exchanges and other digital asset infrastructure, rather than just individual wallets, to evade Western sanctions. Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs says an Iran-linked exchange called Zedcex processed about $1 billion in funds tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, highlighting a shift toward service-layer platforms as repeatable access points for sanctioned networks. U.S. authorities are increasingly targeting exchanges, stablecoin corridors and other liquidity hubs as Iran’s crypto activity grows to an estimated $8 billion to $10 billion a year, with a significant share linked to the IRGC even as many ordinary Iranians use crypto to preserve savings and access dollars.