Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shifted roughly $1 billion in cryptocurrency through two exchanges registered in the United Kingdom between 2023 and 2025, according to blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs, which published its findings this week.

The platforms, Zedcex and Zedxion, processed transfers that enabled the sanctioned military organization to move funds across borders despite Western financial restrictions. TRM's analysis found IRGC-linked activity represented 56% of total volume across both exchanges during the period examined.

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"The $1 billion figure over two years demonstrates that digital currencies are becoming a financial channel for Iran's shadow banking apparatus," Miad Maleki, a former US Treasury official who worked on Iran sanctions efforts, told the Washington Post.

Transaction flows tied to the Revolutionary Guard jumped from approximately $24 million in 2023 to $619 million in 2024, when they accounted for 87% of all activity on the platforms. Volume dropped to around $410 million in 2025 as non-IRGC transactions increased.

The exchanges operated as a single business despite maintaining separate UK corporate registrations, TRM researchers determined. Nearly all transfers moved through Tether's USDT stablecoin on the Tron blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned). In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data, making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamp Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned). In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data, making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamp Read this Term, a combination offering deep liquidity and low transaction costs.

Tether has previously taken proactive steps to align with US sanctions policies, freezing dozens of wallets linked to illicit activities. The company told the Washington Post it "takes any allegation involving terrorist financing extremely seriously" and maintains a zero-tolerance policy, investing heavily in monitoring tools and working closely with law enforcement.

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Israeli authorities had previously flagged many of the wallet addresses involved. The National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing issued an administrative seizure order in September 2025, designating 187 wallet addresses as IRGC property. Tether subsequently blocklisted many of these wallets.

Financier With Sanctions History Linked to Operations

Corporate filings connect the exchanges to Babak Zanjani, an Iranian businessman whom US and EU authorities sanctioned in 2013 for helping Iran sell oil on global markets during earlier restrictions. Those sanctions were lifted in 2016 as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear agreement.

Zanjani was convicted in Iran of embezzling more than $2 billion from the National Iranian Oil Company and sentenced to death. After repaying the funds, his sentence was commuted in 2024 and he was released from prison, the Washington Post reported.

UK records show someone named Babak Morteza, matching Zanjani's birth date information, served as director of Zedxion Exchange Ltd after its May 2021 incorporation.

Zedcex Exchange Exchange An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv Read this Term Ltd was established in mid-2022, using the same virtual office address and successor director. Both companies filed dormant accounts through June 2025, reporting no active trading operations in the UK.

Direct Transfers to Houthi Financier

Blockchain records show more than $10 million moving directly from wallets attributed to both Zedcex and the IRGC to addresses controlled by Sa'id Ahmad Muhammad al-Jamal, a Yemeni businessman whom US Treasury sanctioned in 2021 for smuggling Iranian fuel to fund Yemen's Houthis, according to the Washington Post.

The pattern resembles activities at Russia's Garantex exchange, which US authorities sanctioned in August 2025 for processing more than $100 million in illicit transactions, and North Korean entities using crypto for weapons programs.

TRM's on-chain analysis also showed funds originating from Zedcex-linked infrastructure reaching several of Iran's largest domestic cryptocurrency exchanges, including Nobitex, Wallex, and Aban Tether. Nobitex suffered an $82 million cyberattack in June 2025 claimed by an Israeli-linked hacking group.

Snir Levi, founder of Israeli crypto analysis firm Nominis, told the Washington Post that an initial analysis by his firm based on the same public data also found the exchanges were used by the Iranian military organization, linking at least $150 million in IRGC transactions.

"Iranian-linked actors, including sanctioned military organizations, appear to be testing more persistent crypto infrastructure," said Ari Redbord, global head of policy at TRM Labs.

The UK Treasury's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation declined to comment, as did Iran's mission to the United Nations and the exchanges themselves.