IRGC moved $1B via UK crypto exchanges, TRM Labs finds

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Yaroslav Dmytrenko

11.01.2026

IRGC moved $1B via UK crypto exchanges, TRM Labs finds — UK crypto exchanges allegedly helped IRGC bypass sanctions

Amid intense protests in Iran, analysts at TRM Labs have found that since 2023 Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has transferred at least $1 billion by circumventing international sanctions, using UK-registered cryptocurrency exchanges Zedcex and Zedxion.

According to a new TRM Labs analysis published by The Washington Post, the IRGC used the two UK-registered crypto exchanges to move roughly $1 billion since 2023, bypassing international sanctions.

Zedcex and Zedxion routed funds between wallets controlled by the IRGC, offshore intermediaries, and Iranian crypto firms. Transactions linked to the IRGC accounted for 56% of the exchanges’ total volume between 2023 and 2025, with the vast majority of transfers conducted in USDT on the Tron network.

IRGC-linked activity grew rapidly, rising from $24 million in 2023 to $619 million in 2024 and $410 million in 2025, the report said. To track the exchanges’ operations, TRM Labs conducted small deposits and withdrawals to uncover their internal wallet infrastructure. Investigators also traced funds linked to 187 wallet addresses previously identified by Israeli authorities as being controlled by the IRGC.

A terrorist international

The investigation also uncovered links between the IRGC and the financing of Yemen’s Houthi movement. TRM Labs further connected both exchanges to Babak Zanjani, an Iranian businessman who helped the government evade oil sanctions under former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Zanjani was later convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to death in Iran, though the sentence was commuted and he was recently released from prison.

“The $1 billion figure over two years shows that digital currencies are becoming a financial channel for Iran’s shadow banking apparatus,” Miad Maleki, a former U.S. Treasury official who worked on Iran sanctions, told The Washington Post.

Although both Zedcex and Zedxion claim compliance with anti-money laundering rules on their websites—and Zedcex lists Iran as a prohibited jurisdiction—neither exchange responded to questions from The Washington Post. Representatives of Iran’s mission to the United Nations and the UK Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation also declined to comment.

The IRGC remains under sweeping U.S. and Western sanctions, partly due to concerns over Iran’s nuclear program. It also provides financial support to Hamas, the Houthis, and Hezbollah, which the United States designates as terrorist organizations. Recently, the Financial Times reported that Iran is considering accepting cryptocurrency payments for the sale of ballistic missiles, warships, and other advanced weapons.

As we wrote, Iran restricts stablecoin use as rial hits record low

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