US Treasury sanctions 8 Canadian money firms over Iran crypto ties

The US Treasury slapped sanctions on eight Canadian money-service businesses Friday, accusing them of moving money for sanctioned Iranian entities. According to the department, the firms swapped Iranian rials and other currencies into digital assets so Iran could keep transacting internationally. The designations cut the companies off from the dollar-based financial system, the latest in a growing pile of Treasury actions aimed at firms operating outside US borders.

Treasury says the businesses didn't just touch any crypto — they dealt with sanctioned Iranian digital asset exchanges and with wallet addresses tied to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Some of the targeted entities tried to cover their tracks by switching up names and addresses to dodge detection, the department's statement said. The operation was coordinated with FINTRAC, Canada's financial intelligence unit.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent didn't mince words. According to the statement, he said Canada can't be a safe haven for illicit financial facilitators that provide sanctions evasion services to the Iranian regime and its proxies, adding that Treasury will pursue and disrupt Iran's financial channels anywhere in the world. It's a message Bessent has been building toward — Cointelegraph reported in August that Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control was already hunting crypto exchanges funneling funds to the IRGC, with Bessent vowing to crank up economic pressure on Iran in dollars, rials, or crypto.

Friday's designations extend a broader Treasury campaign described in the statement as disrupting the regime's use of digital assets to fund terrorism, human rights abuses, and attacks on US personnel and allies.

In a separate move the same day, the US Rewards for Justice program dangled as much as $20 million — plus possible relocation — for tips on Iran's nuclear program, including its facilities, equipment, and personnel. The statement pointed to Iran's failure to comply with International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, which it said cost the agency its continuity of knowledge on Iran's enriched uranium production and components like centrifuges. Between the crypto crackdown and the cash-for-intel offer, Washington spent Friday squeezing Tehran from two directions at once.