shelbit

The U.S. Treasury's OFAC sanctions the cryptocurrency exchanges Shelbit and Aban Tether, as well as an Iranian citizen, accusing them of assisting the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard in money laundering, involving digital assets worth millions of dollars.

According to The Block, the Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Shelbit has processed at least $4 billion in transactions since May 2024 and serves as a hub connecting Iranian gambling websites, the Central Bank of Iran, and entities related to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.At least $676 million has been transferred from addresses associated with Shelbit to Binance, including approximately $540 million that was transferred after Dubai regulators fined the unlicensed exchange in January 2025. The report could not independently determine who controls Shelbit within the Iranian government, nor could it ascertain whether the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps directly operates the broader network.

According to CoinDesk, the unlicensed cryptocurrency trading platform Shelbit in Dubai is suspected of being at the center of a $4 billion network for evading Iranian sanctions and is accused of handling millions of dollars in cryptocurrency funds for a large illegal gambling network.Shelbit is operated by Iranian expatriate Siavash Kayvanpour, who is suspected of transferring hundreds of millions of dollars through major cryptocurrency platforms and providing access to global markets for the Central Bank of Iran and other sanctioned entities.U.S. and independent investigators indicate that the operation appears to be closely linked to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, but it has not been confirmed whether they directly control Shelbit or the related gambling network.