Key Notes
- TRM Labs traced roughly $1 billion in crypto transactions to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
- They were processed via UK-based exchanges Zedcex and Zedxion between 2023–2025.
- Most funds moved were in Tether (USDT) on the Tron blockchain.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) used two cryptocurrency platforms registered in the United Kingdom to move roughly $1 billion since 2023, according to a new analysis by blockchain-forensics firm TRM Labs.
The exchanges, Zedcex and Zedxion, operated as a single enterprise and processed flows linked to sanctioned IRGC wallets, offshore intermediaries, and Iran-based crypto companies.
How the Network Worked
TRM says it traced the exchanges’ internal infrastructure by making small deposits/withdrawals and following activity tied to 187 wallet addresses designated by Israeli authorities as IRGC-controlled.
The firm estimates IRGC-linked transactions accounted for 56% of Zedcex/Zedxion volume across 2023–2025. The value was mostly sent in USDT on the Tron chain, with about $24 million in 2023, $619 million in 2024, and $410 million in 2025.
UK Registration and Compliance Claims
Both exchanges present themselves as conventional trading venues with anti-money-laundering programs. However, their public sanctions lists differ: Zedcex lists Iran as prohibited, Zedxion does not.
Neither platform gave the comments requested by The Washington Post. The U.K. Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation also declined to comment.
What Investigators and Industry Said
TRM’s policy head Ari Redbord said Iranian-linked actors “appear to be testing more persistent crypto infrastructure,” not just one-off transactions. A former U.S. Treasury official told the Washington Post that the $1 billion total over two years shows digital assets are becoming a channel for Iran’s “shadow banking apparatus.”
The Post identified Zedcex/Zedxion as related operations and reported one traced $10 million transfer from an IRGC wallet to a Yemeni individual sanctioned in 2021 for funding the Houthis.
Why This Matters
The IRGC is under sweeping U.S. and Western sanctions and has long relied on front companies to move money internationally. TRM’s findings suggest a step-change in sophistication by using UK-registered crypto venues as durable rails to route funds that traditional banking cannot.
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Yana Khlebnikova joined CoinSpeaker as an editor in January 2025, after previous stints at Techopedia, crypto.news, Cointelegraph, and CoinMarketCap, where she honed her expertise in cryptocurrency journalism.