U.S. Sanctions Canadian Money Exchange Businesses Over Iran Crypto Ties

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned eight Canada-based money services businesses on Friday, accusing them of helping the Iranian regime and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps move money by converting Iranian rials and other currencies into digital assets.

The designations extend Treasury’s campaign against Iran’s use of crypto beyond exchanges inside Iran to firms operating in Canada, where Treasury says hundreds of money services businesses move funds into and out of Iran. Several of the targets also worked with Ryan Wedding, an OFAC-sanctioned Canadian drug trafficker and former Olympic snowboarder.

According to the Treasury’s press release, the Office of Foreign Assets Control acted as part of Operation Economic Outcast, with coordination from FinCEN, Canada’s financial intelligence unit FINTRAC and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Many of the businesses transacted with sanctioned Iranian digital asset exchanges and with crypto addresses tied to the IRGC, Treasury said. Some changed their business names and addresses to avoid detection, and the firms were still operating despite Canadian and international media reports about their sanctions-evasion risks.

The designated firms are Million Exchange, Farah Exchange, Darvish Exchange, CCC Inc and B Galaxy, which operates as Cryptoyal, all in Ontario, along with NIA Nations Currency in British Columbia. A further firm, Amin Exchange, operates through a British Columbia company and an Ontario affiliate. Treasury alleged that addresses tied to Million Exchange sent the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars to IRGC or terrorism-linked addresses, and that NIA Nations transacted with IRGC-linked addresses and with sanctioned Iranian exchanges Nobitex, Wallex, Ramzinex and Bitpin. Farah Exchange and Darvish Exchange transacted with sanctioned exchanges including Shelbit and Wallex. Darvish advertises the ability to exchange Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC) for Iranian rials, while B Galaxy advertises unlimited amounts of digital assets in exchange for Iranian currencies.

The release ties several firms to Wedding, who Treasury says used money exchange businesses around Vancouver and Toronto to launder billions of dollars in drug proceeds. Couriers carried bulk cash to the firms, which converted it into digital assets sent abroad. Treasury said Amin Exchange laundered millions in drug proceeds at locations in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, and that Farah Exchange sent millions of dollars in digital assets to addresses associated with Wedding. He was apprehended in January 2026, but worked with several of the designated firms before he was taken into U.S. custody.

The designations were made under Executive Order 13902, which targets Iran’s digital asset sector. All property of the designated firms in the United States or in the control of U.S. persons is blocked and must be reported to OFAC, and entities owned 50% or more by blocked persons are also blocked. U.S. persons are generally barred from dealing with them, and violations can bring civil or criminal penalties on a strict-liability basis. Non-U.S. persons and financial institutions that deal with them also risk exposure to sanctions.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Canada cannot be a safe haven for illicit financial facilitators that provide sanctions-evasion services to Iran and its proxies, adding that “Treasury will pursue and disrupt the Iranian regime’s financial channels anywhere in the world.” Operation Economic Outcast launched in August to sever the economic lifelines of Iran and the IRGC, including Tehran’s use of crypto for sanctions evasion.

Friday’s action follows OFAC’s June 2 designations of Iranian exchanges Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex, and its Aug. 7 designations of Aban Tether Exchange and Shelbit.