According to analyst firm TRM Labs, wallets with identifiable ties to sanctioned Iranian entities have moved more than $3.84 billion through cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx since 2019, making it one of the main channels used to bypass US economic sanctions.
About 60 Iranian platforms were linked to the funds, of which $2.7 billion flowed between CoinEx and Nobitex, Iran’s largest domestic cryptocurrency exchange, at an average rate of about $1 million a day since 2018, TRM Labs wrote on Wednesday. report.
By 2024, CoinEx was Nobitex’s largest external peer, almost nine times the size of the next largest exchange, which TRM Labs described as “inconsistent with independent market behavior.”
The report comes three weeks after the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on four Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges as part of its “Economic Rage” campaign. Days before the sanctions, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Treasury had seized $1 billion worth of cryptocurrencies from Iranian exchanges and wallets since the war began.
In a statement posted on X on Thursday, CoinEx negative having any commercial connections with the Government of Iran or domestic Iranian stock exchanges and stated that it has never provided financing channels to sanctioned parties. The exchange also questioned TRM Labs’ interpretation of blockchain data, saying onchain fund flows do not demonstrate the platform’s knowledge of or involvement in illegal activity.
Iranian exchanges: CoinEx exposure and share volume, 2025. Source: TRM Labs
Top Iranian exchanges route up to 10% of their volume through CoinEx
According to TRM Labs, most of Iran’s major domestic exchanges route around 5% to 10% of their trading volume through CoinEx, indicating “coordinated alignment rather than organic adoption.”
CoinEx’s share in the volume of illegal transactions is almost 8%, above the 0.3% threshold found on other compliant exchanges.
Related: US authorities freeze $344 million in cryptocurrencies linked to Iran
CoinEx-affiliated mining group ViaBTC generated another $154 million in detected exposure to Nobitex through mining payouts and provided emergency liquidity to Nobitex following the $90 million Predatory Sparrow hack in June 2025.
Cointelegraph reached out to ViaBTC for comment on TRM Labs’ findings, but did not receive a response via publication.
According to a June 2 report, Nobitex was at the center of Iran’s “digital dollar pipeline” and handled about 50% of the country’s cryptocurrency trading volume. report by blockchain forensics platform Chainalytic.
In May, Nobitex was reported to have been linked to members of an influential family with ties to Supreme Leader Al Khamenei.
In January, the Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on UK-registered companies Zedcex and Zedxion for using them as front companies for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Warehouse: Inside Iran’s Bitcoin Mining Industry
