US Treasury Blacklists Zedcex & Zedxion in Historic First; Exchange Processed $94B
OFAC designates UK-registered Zedcex and Zedxion for the first time under Iran sanctions, citing $94 billion in illicit volume linked to the IRGC.
The Receipt
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned two UK-registered crypto exchanges, Zedcex and Zedxion, marking the first time Washington has designated digital asset platforms specifically for operating within Iran’s financial sector. The designation targets a network allegedly orchestrated by Iranian oligarch Babak Morteza Zanjani to funnel billions for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Anomalous Volume
The headline figure is staggering. OFAC data reveals Zedcex Exchange Ltd. processed over $94 billion in transactions since its 2022 registration. For context, that volume rivals top-tier global exchanges, yet Zedcex remains virtually unknown in retail retail circles. This discrepancy suggests the platform functioned primarily as a high-throughput conduit for state-level capital flight and sanctions evasion rather than a legitimate trading venue.
The network’s native token, ZEDXION, barely reacted, sitting at $0.44 with negligible liquidity, a zombie asset seemingly disconnected from the exchange’s reported $94 billion flow.
The Operator: Death Row to CEO
The central figure, Babak Morteza Zanjani, represents a bizarre twist in statecraft. Sentenced to death in Iran in 2016 for embezzling oil revenues, Zanjani’s sentence was commuted in 2024 after he reportedly returned assets to the state. Now, the US Treasury claims he has been “unleashed” to re-engineer Iran’s financial bridges using crypto infrastructure.
Like rats on a sinking ship, the regime is frantically wiring funds stolen from Iranian families to banks and financial institutions around the world. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
Institutional Context
This action signals a shift in OFAC’s strategy from targeting individual wallets (e.g., specific ETH addresses) to attacking the settlement layer itself. By designating the corporate entities and their directors, the US is establishing a precedent: registering in a Western jurisdiction (specifically the UK) offers no shield if the on-chain flows bleed into sanctioned regimes. TRM Labs analysis noted the network utilized “exchange-branded stablecoin infrastructure,” corroborating reports that Iran’s Central Bank has actively accumulated USDT-denominated assets to bypass banking blockades.
