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U.S. sanctions crypto exchanges tied to Iran for first time after brutal protest crackown

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U.S. sanctions crypto exchanges tied to Iran for first time after brutal protest crackown

The U.S. Treasury Department has, for the first time, sanctioned cryptocurrency exchanges for operating in Iran’s financial sector.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against Zedcex and Zedxion both registered in the United Kingdom, as part of a broader crackdown on Iranian authorities after their brutal suppression of an internal uprising that killed thousands of their own citizens.

According to the Treasury’s statement, the exchanges facilitated transactions for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which the U.S. and its allies in the European Union designate as a terrorist organization. Since their registration in 2022, just one of these processed over $94 billion in transactions, the Treasury said.

The two platforms are also linked to Babak Morteza Zanjani, an Iranian businessman once convicted of embezzling billions from Iran’s national oil company. OFAC alleges Zanjani used the exchanges to help move funds for the regime, including proceeds supporting IRGC-linked entities.

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The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) was found earlier this month to have bought over $500 million of Tether’s USDT stablecoin, with the primary purpose of manipulating foreign exchange markets as the rial’s value plunged.

This designation marks a shift. While OFAC has previously sanctioned individual crypto wallet addresses and technology providers tied to sanctions evasion or cybercrime, yet this is the first time it has blacklisted entire exchange entities under Iran-specific financial sanctions authorities.

As a result of the designation, all U.S.-linked assets of the exchanges are now frozen, and American individuals and entities are barred from engaging with them.

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Crypto World

Dormant Bitcoin Whale Wallet Awakens After 13 Years

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Dormant Bitcoin Whale Wallet Awakens After 13 Years

A long-dormant Bitcoin whale wallet has reactivated after 13 years and seven months of inactivity, shifting 0.00079 BTC ($56), a tiny fraction of a fortune now worth around $147 million. 

Onchain data from BitInfoCharts shows that the legacy address “1NB3ZX…” received 2,100 Bitcoin (BTC) on July 5, 2012, when BTC traded at about $6.59 per coin. At today’s prices, that stash is valued at roughly $147 million, turning an initial outlay of about $13,800 into an unrealized gain of more than 10,000x.

The move caught the eye of onchain trackers like Whale Alert and LookonChain that monitor so-called Satoshi-era addresses, a term often used for coins acquired in Bitcoin’s early years. 

BitInfoCharts shows the address was funded in a single large inflow on July 5, 2012, and then left untouched for almost 14 years.

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Satoshi-era wallet awakens. Source: BitInfoCharts

Traders debate diamond hands vs recovered keys

Bitcoin traders are split between reverence and speculation. Some praised the HODLer’s apparent discipline for holding through multiple boom-and-bust cycles without selling, “No leverage. No day trading. No stress. Just conviction and time. The hardest strategy is also the most profitable.”

Related: Bitcoin whales shift $100M+ as oil spike rattles markets

Others argued that a more likely explanation was that the owner recently recovered their seed phrase or private key, and was sending a test transaction before cashing out a meaningful amount.

Test transactions of a few tens of dollars are common practice among long-inactive holders, who often move a tiny amount first to confirm they still control the wallet and that the destination address is correct.

Traders will now watch closely to see whether the wallet sends more of its 2,100 BTC to exchanges or fresh addresses in the coming days.

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Satoshi-era whale echoes earlier $85 million move

The reawakened 2012 wallet follows another recent move by a Satoshi-era BTC holder in January. On that occasion, a separate address that first accumulated Bitcoin in 2013 transferred its entire balance of about 909 BTC (worth roughly $85 million) to a new wallet after more than 13 years of dormancy.

The whale locked in a gain of around 13,900x on coins originally bought for less than $7 each.

Magazine: Bitcoin may take 7 years to upgrade to post-quantum — BIP-360 co-author