The U.S. Treasury Department announced on November 7 that it had imposed financial sanctions on 8 Canadian money services businesses, on the grounds that these institutions provided financial services to sanctioned Iranian entities, helping convert Iranian rial and other currencies into crypto assets for use in cross-border transactions.

According to the U.S. side, the firms facilitated transactions with sanctioned Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges and with digital asset addresses linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Once the sanctions take effect, these companies will be cut off from the U.S. dollar-based financial system.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said: “Canada cannot become a safe haven for illicit…