The U.S. Treasury has stepped up enforcement against cryptocurrency platforms that Iran has used as a way to evade international sanctions. The move has drawn attention because it goes beyond policing individual accounts such as crypto wallets and instead targets the entire “service layer” infrastructure, including crypto exchanges, stablecoins and liquidity hubs.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) recently added to a sanctions list platforms that were integrated into Iran’s financial system and supported cryptocurrency transactions, it said. The platforms were found to have mediated Iranian transactions aimed at bypassing U.S. sanctions or to have been used as routes for large-scale fund transfers.
U.S. authorities judge Iran’s annual cryptocurrency trading volume to be about $8 billion to $10 billion, and they believe a significant amount of funds is flowing overseas through stablecoins and exchanges that provide anonymity. Iran has used cryptocurrency as a substitute for foreign exchange amid tough sanctions.
Chi-gyu Hwang
delight@d-today.co.kr