A cryptocurrency exchange owned by an Iranian billionaire has been sanctioned by the US, which accuses it of processing toll payments from ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

BitBank is alleged to have routed hundreds of millions of dollars to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after receiving cryptocurrency payments for the Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, which runs the so-called Tehran tollbooth.

The exchange is controlled by Babak Zanjani, 52, who was sentenced to death in 2016 for embezzling millions from the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company.

His sentence was commuted in 2024 and by 2025, he had publicly re-emerged as a backer of regime-linked projects to evade sanctions.

In July, further sanctions were…