US Expands Sanctions to Iran’s Crypto Sector Over $100M Oil Payments

What happened: The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has, for the first time, designated Iran’s digital asset sector as sanctionable. The move targets a UAE-based broker, Ivan Obukhov and his firm Foscom FZE, accused of processing over $100 million in crypto payments for Iranian oil sales since 2023. The action is part of a broader campaign—dubbed “Operation Economic Outcast”—that sanctioned around 60 entities across Iran’s nuclear, missile, cyber, and oil networks.

Why it matters: This escalation exposes anyone worldwide dealing with Iran’s crypto sector to U.S. secondary sanctions, raising compliance risks for exchanges and OTC desks. The move signals a new era of extraterritorial enforcement and could significantly disrupt Iran’s ability to monetize oil via digital assets. It also sets a precedent for how the U.S. may target crypto in other sanctioned economies.

Source: Cointelegraph, U.S. Treasury