The US Treasury has sanctioned eight Canadian money service businesses that it says helped Iran use cryptocurrency to get around sanctions.
The Treasury announced the action on Friday, 6 November, and said it was coordinated with FINTRAC, Canada’s financial intelligence agency. The sanctions aim to cut the firms off from the US dollar financial system.
What the Treasury alleges
According to the Treasury, the firms exchanged Iranian rials and other currencies for digital assets, allowing money to move across borders. It alleges they did business with sanctioned Iranian entities and sanctioned Iranian crypto exchanges, and handled transactions with crypto addresses linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Treasury also says some of the firms changed their names and addresses to avoid detection.
The allegations have not been tested in court. None of the firms had publicly responded at the time of writing.
“Canada cannot be a safe haven for illicit financial facilitators,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “Treasury will pursue and disrupt the Iranian regime’s financial channels anywhere in the world.”
Part of a wider crackdown
The Treasury said the action continues its campaign to “disrupt the regime’s exploitation of digital assets to fund terrorism.”
It follows a run of US moves against crypto firms with alleged links to Iran. On Friday, the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network also moved to cut crypto exchange MEXC off from the US financial system, citing transactions that benefited Iran’s central bank and the IRGC. The Treasury has also blacklisted Iranian exchange Nobitex and gained powers to sanction anyone operating in Iran’s crypto sector.
What happens next
The Treasury has signalled that more action against non-US firms is likely. Canadian money service businesses that handle crypto may now face closer checks from both FINTRAC and their banks.
