The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran has been accused of using crypto exchanges registered in the United Kingdom to move funds around to evade international sanctions. According to a recent analysis from blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs, the IRGC has transferred about $1 billion from 2023 to date.
As per the report, the exchanges fingered were Zedcex and Zedxion. Both exchanges are the same but function under different brand names.
Investigation Links Majority of Exchange Activity to IRGC Wallets
Notably, between 2023 and 2025, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ transactions made up the majority of the financial activities on the exchanges. A massive 56% of the total flow was IRGC-linked and was carried out in Tether (USDT) stablecoin on the Tron network.
In 2023, total transactions by the IRGC amounted to $24 million. However, it spiked to $619 million and $410 million in 2024 and 2025, respectively. There are indications that Iran is not just performing ‘one-off’ crypto transactions but building a financial base to avoid sanctions placed by the U.S and other Western nations.
The West has expressed concerns over Iran’s nuclear program, urging it to scale back. The use of these two exchanges is Iran’s way of evading the series of sanctions that have been imposed on the country due to alleged financial support to terrorist organizations. Iran allegedly provides financial support to Hama, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.
Stablecoins and Shadow Banking Raise Global Security Concerns
Reacting to the development, a former U.S. Treasury official, Miad Maleki, noted that the $1 billion in transactions suggests that Iran is shifting to digital currencies. He opined that this could be a channel for shadow banking activities.
TRM Labs unraveled the activities of Zedcex and Zedxion exchanges by making small deposits and withdrawals to their internal wallets. Additionally, investigators tracked funds associated with 187 wallet addresses.
The addresses had been labelled IRGC-controlled by Israeli authorities in 2025. The investigation revealed a $10 million payment from an IRGC wallet to an address owned by a Yemeni. Interestingly, the holder was sanctioned in 2021 by the U.S. Treasury for smuggling Iranian fuel and using the proceeds to support the Houthis.
Iran Imposes Limits on Stablecoin Activities
Meanwhile, the Iranian government in September 2025 set new limits on stablecoin transactions. This helped to protect the nation’s fiat, the rial, which is facing collapse.
Iran’s Central Bank limits the purchase of stablecoin to not more than $5,000 worth in one year.
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