Nobitex is accused of being a key channel for Iran to circumvent sanctions, with organizations like the IRGC transferring funds through it.

According to a Reuters investigation, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Nobitex, was founded and controlled by members of the Kharrazi family, who have close ties to the highest leadership. The platform has grown into a key channel for bypassing Western sanctions, and sanctioned entities—including the Central Bank of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—have used it to move funds, involving deal sizes ranging from tens of millions of dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars. At the same time, Nobitex has about 11 million users in Iran, accounting for more than 10% of the country’s population, providing ordinary people with a way to obtain crypto assets and access global markets. Even during wartime, it continued operating and processing more than $100 million in transactions despite internet blackouts. Although the company denies any direct ties to the government and says the related fund flows are isolated individual incidents, blockchain analysis and multiple investigations show that it plays a central role in Iran’s parallel financial system.