US Sanctions Eight Canadian Crypto Exchange Firms Over Iran Links
OFAC sanctioned eight Canadian money services businesses on 6th November; Bored Node's count of USDT received by its six listed Tron addresses is about $228M.
The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which enforces US sanctions, designated eight Canadian money services businesses on 6th November, according to its press release. Treasury says the companies exchange Iranian rials and other currencies for digital assets, enabling the Iranian regime, sanctioned entities associated with the regime, and other illicit actors to move assets into and out of Iran. The action falls under Executive Order 13902, which targets Iran's digital asset sector. It is part of Operation Economic Outcast, a campaign Treasury says it began in August.
Who Was Designated
The eight names in the OFAC entry are Diverse Trade Inc (trading as Million Exchange), 1380079 BC Ltd (Amin Exchange), Top PC Technician Inc (an Amin Exchange affiliate), NIA Nations Currency Ltd, 2397639 Ontario Ltd (Farah Exchange), CCC Inc, B Galaxy Inc (Cryptoyal) and Darvish Exchange. Treasury places them in Ontario and British Columbia, and the listing also gives Quebec addresses for two of them.
Treasury alleges that several dealt with Iranian exchanges it has already sanctioned, among them Nobitex, Wallex, Ramzinex, Bitpin, Aban Tether Exchange and Shelbit, and with addresses it links to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It also alleges that several changed business names and addresses to avoid detection. Neither the press release nor the OFAC entry includes a response from the businesses.
The Drug Trafficking Allegation
Treasury says several of the firms also worked with Ryan Wedding, a Canadian drug trafficker already under OFAC sanctions who it says was apprehended in January 2026; the release gives no charge or court outcome for him. It alleges that Wedding used money exchange businesses around Vancouver and Toronto to launder drug proceeds, with couriers carrying cash that the firms converted into digital assets for sending abroad.
It names Million Exchange, Amin Exchange and Farah Exchange in connection with him. Of Farah, Treasury says the business itself sent digital assets worth millions to Wedding-linked addresses. These are Treasury's allegations; the release does not describe any court finding against the businesses.
What The Six Tron Addresses Show
The OFAC entry lists six digital currency addresses, all on Tron, one of the blockchains that carries USDT. Three belong to Amin Exchange and one each to Farah Exchange, CCC Inc and Million Exchange. The other four designated entities have no listed address.
The table is Bored Node's own calculation from TronGrid data read between 07:33 and 07:40 UTC on 7th November. It counts USDT transfers only, over each address's whole history to that time, and excludes native TRX, other tokens and three Approval records, which record permissions rather than transfers. Public blockchains expose payment history in this way, as Is Bitcoin Anonymous? explains for Bitcoin.
| Listed to | USDT received | First to last transfer |
|---|---|---|
| Million Exchange | $151.8M | 11th October 2024 to 19th February 2026 |
| Farah Exchange | $55.1M | 21st March 2022 to 27th May 2026 |
| Amin Exchange (three addresses) | $18.6M | 17th July 2025 to 11th March 2026 |
| CCC Inc | $2.8M | 9th April 2025 to 18th November 2025 |
Together the addresses received about $228.3M, including about $0.99M of transfers between the listed addresses themselves. In our reading of the record, each sent out almost exactly what it received. At the time of the check, the six held about $70 of USDT in total, almost all of it at CCC Inc.
None of the six moved USDT after 27th May 2026, more than five months before the designation. The figures cover whole histories, so they do not show how much was linked to Iran, to Wedding or to any breach of sanctions. Treasury's own dollar figures are narrower: hundreds of thousands of dollars sent to IRGC-linked addresses or received from Shelbit, for example, and millions in the Wedding allegation.
What The Designation Does
All property of the designated businesses in US hands, or in the possession or control of US persons, is blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Entities owned 50 percent or more by blocked persons are also blocked. Treasury says financial institutions and other persons may risk exposure to sanctions for engaging in certain transactions involving blocked persons, and that OFAC may impose civil penalties for violations on a strict liability basis.
Treasury says the action was coordinated with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the US Drug Enforcement Administration and FINTRAC, Canada's financial intelligence unit. It also says the designated firms remain operational despite media attention to the risks they pose.
Canada's Own Rules
Under FINTRAC's guidance, last modified on 1st October 2025, a business that exchanges or transfers virtual currency in Canada counts as a money services business and must register with FINTRAC. It must report suspicious transactions, suspected sanctions evasion and large virtual currency transactions.
Every OFAC entry carries a Canadian money services business registration number. Bored Node did not check FINTRAC's registry, so the current status of those registrations is not confirmed. The sanctions lists the FINTRAC page directs businesses to are Canadian and United Nations lists. They do not name OFAC's, and the page says nothing about this designation.
Treasury also took action against another crypto platform this week, covered in Bored Node's report on the MEXC order.
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