US Sanctions 8 Canadian Crypto Exchange Counters That Swapped Iranian Rials for Digital Assets, Some Tied to the IRGC

Published November 8, 2026 (OFAC action of November 6). On-chain data as of November 8, 08:00 UTC.

The US Treasury on Nov. 6 sanctioned eight Canada-based money services businesses that it says converted Iranian rials into digital assets for the Iranian regime, sanctioned Iranian crypto exchanges and a Canadian drug trafficker.

The action widens Washington's crypto campaign against Iran beyond Iran's borders. Until now, the Office of Foreign Assets Control had mostly targeted Iranian platforms themselves, such as Nobitex and Wallex in June. This time it went after the exchange counters abroad that connect Iranians with the global crypto market.

"Canada cannot be a safe haven for illicit financial facilitators that provide sanctions evasion services to the Iranian regime and its proxies," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement announcing the designations. "Treasury will pursue and disrupt the Iranian regime's financial channels anywhere in the world."

The timing matters. The designations came on the same day Treasury moved to cut MEXC Global off from US banks over $16 billion in illicit flows, including about $1 billion tied to Iran. Both actions run under "Operation Economic Outcast," which Treasury launched in August to target Tehran's use of crypto.

What Treasury says the eight firms did

Treasury describes small storefront exchanges with large reach. Million Exchange, in Ontario, sent "the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars" to addresses tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the release says. Amin Exchange received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Shelbit, an Iranian platform sanctioned in August.

Others advertised the service openly. Darvish Exchange offered to exchange Bitcoin for Iranian rials, and B Galaxy, trading as Cryptoyal, promised "unlimited amounts of digital assets in exchange for Iranian currencies," according to Treasury. Several firms changed names and addresses to avoid detection, it added.

The drug link is the second thread. Treasury says several of the firms laundered cash for Ryan Wedding, the former Olympic snowboarder turned drug trafficker who was arrested in January 2026. Couriers brought bulk cash to the counters, which turned it into crypto and sent it abroad.

By BullishStation's count of the OFAC list update, six of the eight firms are in Ontario and two in British Columbia. Six list addresses on or near Yonge Street, in Toronto's northern suburbs. All eight carry a Canadian money services business registration number, meaning they were registered with Canada's financial intelligence unit.

Why the crypto addresses matter less than the companies

OFAC listed six TRON addresses, three of them for Amin Exchange. We checked each one on the TRON blockchain through the public TronGrid interface on Sunday morning. Together they held about $70 in USDT, the dollar stablecoin that dominates payments on TRON.

Most were dormant. By our count, five of the six recorded no account operations after April 2026, and the latest on any of them dated from May 27. That pattern is common: by the time an address is published, the money has usually moved on, which is why OFAC also blocks the companies and anyone they own 50% or more of.

The choice of chain is telling. All six addresses are on TRON, where USDT transfers are cheap and fast, a pattern also seen in the US move to seize $1 billion in Iranian crypto in October. Our stablecoin guide explains why issuers can freeze such tokens, while Bitcoin cannot be frozen at the protocol level.

Canada's watchdog answered quickly. FINTRAC said it coordinated with OFAC and FinCEN, and that it "has revoked the registrations of 161 money services businesses" since the start of 2026, "more than the last three years combined," in a public statement. It also said it fined nine money services businesses more than C$198 million over the past year.

FINTRAC did not say whether the eight firms are still registered. By law it cannot discuss compliance actions against specific businesses, the statement noted. Treasury said the firms "remain operational."

History offers a guide. US sanctions on crypto counters outside a target country are rare but not new: Treasury hit Russian exchange Garantex in 2022 and Cambodia's Huione network in 2025. Each time, flows shifted to new names, as the third wave of Prince Group sanctions showed this week.

For crypto users, the effect is practical. Regulated exchanges in the US and the EU, including those on the MiCA register, screen deposits against the sanctions list. Funds that touched these eight firms can now be frozen or refused, and the designation also carries "secondary sanctions risk" for foreign banks under Executive Order 13902.

The next dates to watch are on the MEXC side. FinCEN's order against the exchange takes effect 30 days after it appears in the Federal Register, and Treasury has signaled more Operation Economic Outcast actions to come.

Related: Russia opens Bitcoin trading through its biggest banks · How geopolitics moves crypto markets

Sources: US Treasury press release sb0686 (Nov. 6, 2026); OFAC Recent Actions, Iran-related designations (Nov. 6, 2026); FINTRAC public statement (Nov. 6, 2026); TronGrid account data for the six listed TRON addresses (Nov. 8, 2026).

This article is for information only and is not investment advice. The companies named have been designated by OFAC; a designation is not a criminal conviction. Crypto assets are volatile and you can lose money.