Thelma Golden has arguably done more than anyone else to promote Black artists in the U.S. For over two decades, the director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, founded in 1968, has forged the institution into a leading incubator and showcase for artists of African descent. And in November 2025, she made a permanent mark on New York City’s cultural landscape when the Studio Museum opened its $160 million new building on 125th Street. The 82,000-sq.-ft. facility, which looks like a charcoal-colored Jenga tower, doubled space for exhibitions and created classrooms, artist studios, and meeting spaces for community organizations. Golden started her career in the 1980s as a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she organized powerful exhibitions about Black masculinity and conceptual art that divided critics, but made her name as a fearless curator. Now, she’s focused on ensuring a long-term future for the institution she’s shaped. Alongside raising money for the new building and attracting patrons including Beyoncé, Golden created a $52 million endowment, ensuring the Studio Museum’s 9,000-work collection will be cared for well into the future. 

WisdomTree and MoonPay have announced a Sept. 17 collaboration to build another U.S. access route to the WTGXX tokenized Treasury money market fund while MoonPay plans to use the fund in its stablecoin reserve management.

WisdomTree said the planned connection will use MoonPay’s blockchain technology and distribution network, which the companies said reaches more than 35 million accounts and over 1,700 partners. MoonPay has not identified a stablecoin that will hold WTGXX reserves, disclosed an allocation amount or given a date when the investor access point will become available.

MoonPay access to WTGXX remains under development

The arrangement is designed to give eligible U.S. investors another route into WTGXX outside WisdomTree’s existing direct channels. Transactions in the regulated fund will still involve WisdomTree Securities, Inc., the broker-dealer that distributes WTGXX.

MoonPay will supply technology and access to its customer network, but WisdomTree states that MoonPay is not acting as a broker-dealer or investment adviser for WTGXX. The distinction keeps the securities activity tied to WisdomTree’s regulated distribution structure.

No launch date appears in the announcement. WisdomTree describes the MoonPay access point as something it “is building,” while the technology is “expected to support” access once the planned integration is ready. Those statements describe future work and do not confirm that retail investors can buy WTGXX through MoonPay today.

Jonathan Steinberg, WisdomTree’s founder and CEO, said the companies want to create another path for eligible U.S. investors to move assets into the fund.

“Working with MoonPay as an access point can give eligible U.S. investors another path to deploy their assets into WTGXX,” Steinberg said. The wording describes the intended product structure, not a completed rollout.

MoonPay says its U.S. regulatory footprint includes a New York BitLicense, a New York Limited Purpose Trust Charter and money transmitter licenses. Its corporate description lists operations across fiat payments, crypto trading, commerce and stablecoin infrastructure.

WTGXX was reworked for stablecoin reserve eligibility

WTGXX is an open-end money market mutual fund registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Its investment objective is to generate current income while preserving capital and liquidity and maintaining a stable $1.00 net asset value per share.

The latest SEC-filed prospectus requires the fund to keep at least 99.5% of total assets in government securities, cash and fully collateralized repurchase agreements. Under normal conditions, WTGXX invests exclusively in U.S. dollar cash, short-term Treasury securities, overnight Treasury-backed repos and registered government money market funds.

WisdomTree changed the product’s name and investment policy in November 2025 specifically to address stablecoin reserve use. An SEC-filed notice said the changes were intended to make the fund an eligible investment option for payment stablecoin issuers seeking to comply with the GENIUS Act and related rules.

The current prospectus carries the same language. It says WTGXX invests in a manner intended to satisfy the types of eligible reserve assets permitted for payment stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act. That does not mean every stablecoin issuer can automatically use the fund without considering its own regulatory requirements.

At June 30, WTGXX held 80.9% of net assets in U.S. government obligations and 19.3% in repurchase agreements. Treasury bills accounted for 64.1%, while a floating-rate Treasury note represented 16.8%. Its holdings included overnight repos with institutions such as Deutsche Bank.

The fund charges a 0.25% annual expense ratio. Its fiscal-year return through June 30 was 3.75%, compared with 3.90% for the ICE U.S. 1-Month Treasury Bill Index. Past returns do not establish what future WTGXX investors will earn.

WisdomTree already offers WTGXX around-the-clock liquidity

Before the MoonPay agreement, WisdomTree had expanded how investors could move in and out of WTGXX.

In February, the company launched 24/7 secondary trading and instant settlement for WTGXX after receiving SEC exemptive relief. WisdomTree Securities acts as principal in that structure, with eligible transactions settling against USDC outside conventional securities-market hours.

By June, WisdomTree had reduced secondary-market redemption commissions for its Instant Liquidity service to zero basis points. The service operates through WisdomTree Connect and allows qualifying investors to access WTGXX liquidity around the clock.

WTGXX has entered other treasury and blockchain workflows during 2026. WisdomTree reported that Plume and Toku used the fund in a payroll pilot, LotusUSD referenced it within a reserve framework, and Stable Sea made it available for corporate treasury use.

As earlier corporate cash coverage reported, Stable Sea expanded its WisdomTree offering in August to include two more digital funds alongside WTGXX. Eligible businesses place orders through WisdomTree Securities while using Stable Sea’s interface.

The SEC has independently classified WTGXX among the money market funds it identifies as tokenized. The regulator’s April statistics included WTGXX alongside products from Franklin Templeton, Fidelity, Dreyfus and M3Sixty whose ownership records are maintained at least partly through crypto networks.

WTGXX still carries ordinary money market and technology risks. WisdomTree warns that investors can lose money, the $1 share value is not guaranteed, and the fund is neither a bank account nor FDIC-insured. The prospectus separately notes risks connected with blockchain technology, including theft, inaccessibility and regulatory changes.

MoonPay has already connected another tokenized fund

The WisdomTree agreement is not MoonPay’s first connection to a regulated tokenized money market product.

In June, Franklin Templeton connected its BENJI fund with MoonPay Trade for institutional users. As prior MoonPay fund coverage reported, that arrangement allows eligible institutions to exchange stablecoins such as USDC and USDT for tokenized fund shares through MoonPay’s onchain trading infrastructure.

MoonPay Trade was introduced in May as an institutional platform covering tokenized assets, stablecoin liquidity and decentralized finance connections. Earlier institutional platform coverage reported that the service supports functions including tokenized fund subscriptions, collateral transfers and onchain lending.

The WisdomTree collaboration differs in its stated distribution plan because the companies are targeting eligible individual investors in the U.S. through WisdomTree’s broker-dealer structure. MoonPay’s role in WTGXX stablecoin reserve management creates a second part of the relationship beyond investor access.

WisdomTree has described the deal as a possible base for future work covering other tokenized funds and international markets. Caroline D. Pham, CEO of MoonPay Institutional, said the relationship shows how blockchain infrastructure can be used with regulated U.S. investment products.

The companies have not named any additional fund, country or launch schedule for that potential work. Their Sept. 17 announcement similarly does not specify which MoonPay-issued or supported stablecoin would use WTGXX, how much of its reserves could be allocated to the fund, or when those reserve purchases would begin.

U.S. authorities have announced new sanctions targeting an Iranian cryptocurrency exchange, alleging it was used to process Bitcoin payments tied to maritime traffic through a strategic choke point in the Middle East.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated BitBank, accusing the platform of helping move cryptocurrency-linked funds connected to vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The action is part of a broader push to restrict Iran’s access to international financial channels, including through digital assets.

Key takeaways

• OFAC sanctioned Iranian digital asset infrastructure tied to BitBank, alleging it facilitated Bitcoin payments connected to Strait of Hormuz shipping.
• Treasury said Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority transferred funds received to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) using BitBank.
• The U.S. linked the alleged setup to Iranian financier Babak Zanjani, portraying it as part of an IRGC-connected sanctions-evasion architecture.
• OFAC also designated BitBank’s developer, Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, and three associates connected to Zanjani.
• Separately, “Bitbank” is a different entity from a Japan-licensed exchange acquired by SBI Holdings in June, underscoring the importance of distinguishing similarly named platforms.

Why OFAC says BitBank matters

According to OFAC, as of June, the Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority used BitBank to transfer payments it received to the IRGC. Treasury’s allegation centers on how crypto rails may be used to convert and route funds in ways that can help sanctioned parties avoid traditional banking scrutiny.

OFAC further claimed that the exchange is part of a wider system Treasury described as enabling the movement of hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin associated with Babak Zanjani—an individual previously tied by the U.S. government to Iran-related sanctions evasion.

In its statement accompanying the designations, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the step “make[s] perfectly clear” that attempts to finance the Iranian regime using cryptocurrencies are not beyond OFAC’s reach.

The Hormuz Safe link and the prior insurance scheme allegation

Treasury’s notice also referenced earlier accusations involving Hormuz Safe. In a prior action, OFAC alleged that Hormuz Safe was connected to an IRGC-backed scheme pressuring vessels to purchase maritime insurance for passage. Treasury’s earlier claim included coverage against seizures by Iran itself—an arrangement OFAC said could create a revenue channel that ultimately supports sanctioned entities.

This time, the U.S. moves from describing the insurance or routing mechanism to naming the alleged crypto exchange infrastructure used to transfer funds that stakeholders may receive in the course of that shipping activity.

For investors and industry participants, the practical takeaway is that U.S. sanctions enforcement is increasingly focused on the “plumbing” that can connect off-chain activity—like shipping payments and insurance flows—to on-chain settlement or exchange transfers.

Scope of the sanctions package

OFAC’s designations include BitBank and its developer, Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, along with three associates of Babak Zanjani. Treasury described the group as “key components of the Iranian regime’s digital assets-based sanctions evasion infrastructure.”

The designations add another layer to a series of OFAC moves aimed at isolating Iran from the international financial system, including through sanctions on digital asset businesses.

Cointelegraph reported that it reached out to BitBank for comment, but no response is included in the source material.

Beware name confusion: Iranian BitBank vs. a licensed Japan exchange

Readers should note that the sanctioned “BitBank” referenced by U.S. Treasury is not the same as a separate “bitbank, inc,” a fully licensed crypto exchange founded in Japan in 2014. That Japan-based entity was acquired by SBI Holdings in June, according to earlier coverage (SBI Holdings acquired bitbank).

Treasury’s designation lists “BitBank” as having been established in 2024. The distinction matters because similarly named platforms can create confusion for users, compliance teams, and market participants trying to assess regulatory risk.

Broader U.S. actions targeting Iran and crypto

This sanction comes amid continued U.S. efforts to tighten restrictions around Iran’s crypto activity. Earlier in the year, OFAC sanctioned multiple Iranian digital asset exchanges—actions Treasury framed as attempts to support sanctions evasion.

In August, the U.S. sanctioned two digital asset exchanges—Shelbit and Aban Tether—according to earlier reporting from Cointelegraph. In June, Treasury also sanctioned four crypto exchanges, including Nobitex, as previously covered.

Treasury has also targeted stablecoin holdings connected to Iranian-linked wallets. In July, the U.S. ordered the freezing of more than $130 million in USDt held in wallets linked to Iran, per coverage included in the source material.

Meanwhile, wider financial constraints appear to be driving Iran to adjust tactics. Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported that Iran’s central bank eased foreign currency controls to encourage businesses to bring overseas earnings home, including by using cryptocurrency, amid tightening U.S. sanctions—an approach discussed in prior coverage from Cointelegraph.

With Thursday’s designations, OFAC is again signaling that crypto-related infrastructure used in sanctioned economic activity—especially when linked to strategic regional commerce like Strait of Hormuz shipping—can be treated as enforceable sanctions targets. The next question for market participants is how exchanges, payment providers, and compliance tooling will respond to these designations, and whether further details about the alleged payment pathways emerge as the U.S. continues expanding its Iran-focused enforcement.

Galaxy has expanded its onchain lending business to Solana with two live stablecoin vaults on Kamino, adding separate USDC and USDT strategies managed through Galaxy Curation.

Galaxy said on Sept. 17 that its curation team will decide which Kamino lending markets the vaults can enter, control exposure limits and monitor market conditions using the risk framework employed in its institutional lending business.

Separately, Kamino confirmed the launch, describing the products as actively managed lending vaults that generate yield from borrower activity across its Solana credit markets. Neither announcement set a guaranteed return or fixed APY.

Galaxy brings its curation model onto Solana

Galaxy Curation started in July with stablecoin strategies built on Morpho and distributed to institutions through Fireblocks Earn. The Kamino launch puts the same curation model on a second blockchain and introduces direct exposure to Solana lending markets.

Galaxy’s July launch described curation as a system for applying institutional credit controls to onchain lending while keeping deposited assets at the protocol level. Curators decide which lending markets qualify, how much capital can enter each one and when those allocations need to change.

For Kamino, Galaxy has launched one USDT configuration and one USDC configuration. Both are described by Galaxy as moderate-risk strategies, though they have different mandates.

The USDT vault takes the more selective approach. Galaxy says it is designed to prioritize capital preservation through exposure to liquid and established Kamino lending venues.

The USDC vault permits a larger set of collateral markets in pursuit of higher lending yield. Galaxy describes the design as involving expanded collateral exposure and wider market participation, which means its risk profile is not identical to the USDT product.

Galaxy explicitly warns that both products remain exposed to market, smart-contract and liquidity risks. The company does not describe either vault as principal-protected.

Eduardo Bermudez, Galaxy’s director of trading, said the company built the curation business around the view that institutions should not have to change their operating model to use onchain yield products.

“Extending that to Kamino brings the same principle to Solana,” Bermudez said.

Vault rules control where depositor funds can move

Kamino’s vault system lets a curator set eligible reserves, allocation weights and hard exposure caps. Its documentation says users deposit one asset into a vault and receive vault shares whose value changes as interest accrues from underlying lending markets.

The curator does not manually execute every individual movement of capital. Kamino’s infrastructure handles allocation and rebalancing based on the strategy instructions set by the curator, while the resulting activity remains visible onchain.

Galaxy will therefore control the lending mandate, while Kamino provides the smart contracts and execution infrastructure.

Kamino documents controls covering allocation weights, reserve restrictions, management fees, performance fees, minimum deposits and exposure settings. The Galaxy announcement did not publish a fixed vault APY, management fee, performance fee or maximum deposit amount.

Liquidity conditions can affect withdrawals. Kamino’s documentation says vault redemptions first use idle liquidity and funds available from lending reserves. A withdrawal can enter a queue when enough immediately redeemable capital is unavailable.

Michael Weisz, Kamino’s CEO, said Galaxy’s lending experience is being applied directly through the protocol’s infrastructure. He described the arrangement as bringing institutional capital and risk controls into the same onchain system, a company characterization that does not remove the lending and smart-contract risks disclosed for users.

The USDC vault has another distribution route through Yield.xyz. Galaxy said the integration lets users access that strategy beyond Kamino’s own interface, while the USDT vault announcement did not identify a comparable external distribution channel.

Galaxy builds on a $1.4 billion lending operation

Galaxy’s latest reported financial figures provide the basis for the institutional lending experience referenced in the vault announcement.

Its Q2 results showed an average loan book of $1.438 billion for the three months ended June 30, up 1% from the previous quarter. The company served 1,741 trading counterparties, compared with 1,691 in Q1.

Galaxy ended the quarter with $7.1 billion in combined assets under management and assets under stake. Its Global Markets business generated $49 million of adjusted gross profit during the quarter.

The curation expansion follows Galaxy’s July launch of the Galaxy Onchain Financing Rate, or GOFR. That product lets institutional borrowers face Galaxy directly while Galaxy routes financing across several onchain lending protocols.

Galaxy’s GOFR materials list Kamino alongside Aave, Morpho and Spark among the lending venues monitored for the program. Galaxy committed $100 million of its own equity as first-loss capital for GOFR, a structure separate from the new Kamino vaults.

As of Sept. 13, Galaxy displayed indicative GOFR rates of 4.40% for USDC and 4.00% for USDT. Those rates belong to the GOFR financing program and should not be treated as yields for the newly launched Kamino vaults.

The company has been adding other Solana-based institutional products during 2026. As earlier coverage of Galaxy’s Solana fund launch reported, Galaxy and State Street introduced the SWEEP tokenized cash-management fund on Solana in May.

Galaxy has since used Kamino in its onchain financing operations and collateral markets. Recent coverage of institutional tokenized assets noted that tokenized GLXY shares issued through Superstate had already been accepted as collateral on Kamino.

Kamino reports more than $20 billion in originated loans

Kamino describes itself as Solana’s largest credit platform and said in the Galaxy announcement that it had originated more than $20 billion in loans without bad debt to lenders. The protocol said it had processed more than $650 billion in cumulative transaction activity.

Kamino’s figures are company-reported operating statistics. Independent DeFi metrics use different definitions.

Current DefiLlama data tracks Kamino Lend at approximately $1.33 billion in total value locked and just over $1 billion in active loans. The service records roughly $211 million in cumulative protocol fees.

Kamino’s announcement describes its credit platform as having roughly $2 billion in AUM. That figure should not be treated as interchangeable with DeFiLlama’s TVL because platform AUM and the data provider’s locked-value calculation cover different accounting definitions.

The protocol’s institutional activity has expanded beyond conventional crypto-backed loans. Three days before Galaxy’s launch, Kamino introduced lending vaults using tokenized SPY, QQQ and Nvidia shares supplied through Kraken’s xStocks platform.

As recent tokenized-stock market coverage reported, Kamino held approximately $41.7 million of tokenized-stock DeFi deposits in early September, placing it behind Uniswap V4 in that measured category.

Kamino appointed former Yieldstreet co-founder Michael Weisz as CEO on Sept. 15 and announced plans to build a New York operation focused on institutional finance. Coverage of Kamino’s U.S. expansion reported that the company plans to recruit staff across finance, legal, compliance, product and business development.

For the new Galaxy products, the next changes will occur through ongoing curation. Galaxy can modify market allocations and exposure limits as lending conditions change, while Kamino’s infrastructure executes the approved strategy onchain.

Galaxy has not published a target amount for deposits into either vault or a deadline for reaching a specific asset level. Its Sept. 17 announcement states that both the USDC and USDT vaults are already live.

Coinbase has announced a Sept. 16 partnership with Stablecore to embed crypto trading, custody, staking and stablecoin payments into banking systems whose integration footprint reaches more than 3,000 U.S. banks and credit unions.

Coinbase said the partnership is already underway with institutions including Amarillo National Bank in Texas, while Stablecore will connect Coinbase’s digital asset infrastructure to the core banking, digital banking and compliance systems used by participating financial institutions.

The announcement does not say that 3,000 banks have signed contracts with Coinbase. Stablecore says its existing integrations reach technology systems used by more than 3,000 U.S. banks and credit unions, giving participating institutions a route to add digital asset products without replacing their existing banking platforms.

Coinbase services will sit inside existing bank platforms

Through the partnership, participating bank and credit union customers could buy, sell, hold, stake and make payments with digital assets through their normal banking experience. Coinbase provides the underlying custody and exchange infrastructure, while Stablecore manages the connection between that infrastructure and each institution’s technology stack.

Stablecore’s role covers orchestration between core banking systems, customer-facing digital banking software and compliance tools. Its platform is designed as a white-label layer, allowing a financial institution to retain its own brand and customer interface while using outside infrastructure for digital asset functions.

Coinbase has not identified the stablecoins or blockchain networks that participating institutions will support. The Sept. 16 announcement does not publish transaction fees, custody charges, staking terms, minimum balances or a general customer launch date.

Alec Lovett, Coinbase’s head of infrastructure business, said “Community banks and credit unions shouldn’t have to choose between staying local and staying current.” Coinbase presents the arrangement as infrastructure for smaller financial institutions seeking crypto services without building their own custody, trading and blockchain systems.

Stablecore CEO Alex Treece said banks should be able to add the products without moving to completely different technology platforms. His company focuses exclusively on regional banks, community banks and credit unions.

Amarillo National Bank is part of the early integration work

Amarillo National Bank appears across several Stablecore projects already moving toward production. In March, Q2 announced that Amarillo National Bank and Bank of Utah were among the early institutions working with Stablecore through Q2 Innovation Studio.

Q2 said the integration can support stablecoin payments and acceptance, digital asset accounts with fiat on- and off-ramps, crypto-backed lending, tokenized deposits and staking rewards. The capabilities can appear inside both retail and commercial digital banking experiences.

By Sept. 9, Q2 reported that Stablecore’s digital asset integration had moved from initial development into production in less than six months. Q2 described it as a native connection inside its digital banking platform.

Coinbase’s Sept. 16 release goes a step further by identifying Coinbase as the provider of underlying custody and exchange infrastructure within Stablecore’s offering. It does not specify which Coinbase services Amarillo National Bank has already activated for end customers.

No public announcement reviewed for this report confirms that Amarillo customers can currently trade crypto, earn staking rewards or send stablecoins through their bank accounts. The companies describe implementation as underway, leaving the exact customer-facing launch stage dependent on the individual institution.

Stablecore is adding crypto monitoring through Verafin

Compliance infrastructure is developing alongside the banking integrations. Stablecore announced a Sept. 15 partnership with Nasdaq Verafin that combines digital asset transaction information with traditional bank customer data for financial-crime monitoring.

Under that structure, Stablecore holds digital asset transaction and position information without storing personally identifiable information. The bank keeps its customer and account records in its core system, while both sets of information flow into Verafin for investigation and risk assessment.

Amarillo National Bank is among the beta customers testing the Verafin integration. Stablecore expects the system to reach mutual customers during the fourth quarter of 2026 and first quarter of 2027, with real-time sanctions screening for recipients of digital asset transfers planned after the initial integration.

William Ware, president of Amarillo National Bank, said “Our customers want access to emerging payment methods” while the bank seeks to maintain visibility across traditional and digital asset activity. The Verafin beta is separate from Coinbase’s custody and exchange role, although both sit within Stablecore’s developing bank technology stack.

U.S. rules allow banks to use third-party crypto providers

Federal banking regulators have clarified several activities relevant to the Coinbase and Stablecore model.

The OCC confirmed in May 2025 that national banks and federal savings associations may provide crypto custody and execute customer-directed purchases and sales. Banks can outsource permissible crypto activities to third parties when they maintain appropriate vendor and risk controls.

Two months earlier, the OCC reaffirmed that national banks may conduct certain stablecoin, distributed-ledger and crypto custody activities. The agency removed an earlier requirement that OCC-supervised banks obtain supervisory non-objection before starting those activities, while retaining normal safety, soundness and compliance expectations.

The Federal Reserve withdrew its separate advance-notification expectation for state member banks in April 2025. Crypto activities now fall within its regular supervisory process, though institutions still have to comply with applicable laws and maintain appropriate controls.

OCC guidance later confirmed that national banks may conduct riskless-principal crypto trades, where the bank facilitates a customer transaction while entering an offsetting transaction instead of keeping the asset in inventory. The December 2025 guidance maintained the requirement for safe and sound operation.

Regulatory permission does not mean every community bank can activate every Stablecore or Coinbase feature automatically. Charter type, state rules, bank policies, customer eligibility and individual product design can change what each institution offers.

Coinbase now has two community-bank distribution deals

The Stablecore agreement follows another Coinbase community-bank partnership announced six days earlier.

As crypto.news reported in its Coinbase-Moov coverage, Coinbase and Moov are working to bring stablecoin acceptance, merchant settlement, payouts and real-time funding to a network of more than 1,000 community banks and credit unions.

The two arrangements cover different parts of banking infrastructure. Moov focuses on payment acceptance, merchant settlement and funding through its payments stack, while Stablecore’s announced product set reaches trading, custody, staking, stablecoin payments and integration with core and compliance systems.

Related coverage of Coinbase’s OCC trust approval reported in April that Coinbase had received conditional approval for a national trust bank charter, with community banking groups objecting to the regulator’s decision. The Stablecore announcement identifies Coinbase as the regulated digital asset infrastructure provider but does not specify which Coinbase legal entity will provide each service to each participating institution.

Stablecore’s March Q2 announcement named Amarillo National Bank and Bank of Utah as early institutions evaluating its infrastructure, while the Sept. 16 Coinbase release names only Amarillo in connection with the new partnership. Neither company has disclosed how many banks have completed Coinbase-enabled deployment, transaction volumes from early implementations or a deadline for opening the full product set to customers.

CFTC staff said on September 17 that providers of passive crypto trading software will not face enforcement for skipping broker registration when they connect users to regulated derivatives markets.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Market Participants Division issued a no-action position, Release 9300-26, stating it will not recommend action against qualifying providers or their personnel for failing to register as introducing brokers or associated persons. The software must connect users exclusively to CFTC-registered firms and exchanges: futures commission merchants, introducing brokers, or designated contract markets.

What the software may and may not do

Qualifying software can route orders, display market data, and provide the plumbing that lets a user interact with regulated exchanges. It cannot hold custody of assets, generate buy or sell signals, or make trading decisions on a user’s behalf. The relief ends the moment a provider adds trading discretion, custody, or signal generation.

The position spares software companies the costs of introducing broker registration, which includes capital requirements, compliance obligations, and ongoing reporting duties. In practice, the move could make it easier for crypto wallets and apps to offer access to regulated derivatives, including perpetual contracts and prediction markets, without becoming brokers themselves.

Relief broadens a March letter

Release 9300-26 extends relief first granted in March to Phantom Technologies, Inc., a self-custodial crypto wallet software provider, through Staff Letter 26-09. Phantom and the Hyperliquid Policy Center petitioned the CFTC in July for broader protections for non-custodial wallet providers.

The decision arrives two days after the CLARITY Act failed to advance in the Senate, with a cloture motion receiving 49 votes against the 60 needed. CFTC Chair Michael Selig and SEC Chair Paul Atkins said on September 16 that their agencies would continue moving on crypto regulation under existing authority. Atkins wrote in a post on X that “with or without legislation, we will act decisively within the SEC’s statutory authority to deliver certainty for American investors and for the entrepreneurs shaping our technological future.”

The relief is a staff interpretation rather than a rule, and can be modified or withdrawn. It also does not address state-level registration and licensing requirements.

The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned Iranian crypto exchange BitBank on Sept. 17, alleging that a network linked to financier Babak Zanjani used the platform to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps between June and July.

Treasury said the Office of Foreign Assets Control placed BitBank, software developer Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company and three Zanjani associates under sanctions as part of Operation Economic Outcast, its current campaign targeting Iranian financial networks and sanctions evasion.

The designations are administrative sanctions actions, not criminal convictions. Treasury’s public announcement does not provide Bitcoin wallet addresses, transaction hashes or a precise total supporting the alleged transfers, leaving the cited “hundreds of millions of dollars” figure attributed to the U.S. government.

BitBank was added to OFAC’s sanctions list

OFAC’s Sept. 17 notice identifies BitBank as an Iran-based financial and insurance business established in 2024. The listing includes the names BitBank and BitBank3, along with bitbank3.com and bitbank.com.

Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company was added in the same action. Treasury describes the company as the developer of BitBank’s digital asset software and a subsidiary of Dot One Value Creation Group, another entity previously placed under U.S. sanctions.

The three people designated alongside the companies are Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein and Seyed Adel Heidari. Treasury identifies all three as executives connected with Zanjani’s Dot One business network.

Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein serves as Pishtaz Simorgh’s chief executive, according to Treasury. Seyed Adel Heidari is vice chairman of Dot One’s board, while Treasury alleges Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein has participated in oil exports and digital asset transactions linked to Zanjani’s sanctions-evasion operations.

BitBank itself was designated under Executive Order 13902 for operating in Iran’s digital asset sector. Treasury expanded its use of that authority in August as part of Operation Economic Outcast, allowing OFAC to target companies and individuals involved in Iran’s crypto industry.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the action showed that “efforts to finance the Iranian regime using cryptocurrencies are not beyond OFAC’s reach.” His statement accompanied the designation and represents the U.S. administration’s enforcement position.

Treasury alleges Bitcoin moved to the IRGC

Between June and July, Treasury alleges Zanjani used BitBank to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin to the IRGC.

The Sept. 17 release does not identify the wallets involved or break down the transactions by date, amount or counterparty. OFAC’s accompanying SDN entry similarly does not list digital currency addresses for BitBank.

No independent on-chain evidence reviewed for this report confirms the full amount cited by Treasury. The transfer total therefore remains a U.S. government allegation based on information OFAC has not fully disclosed publicly.

Treasury has tied Zanjani to digital asset businesses for months. On Jan. 30, OFAC sanctioned him alongside Zedcex Exchange and Zedxion Exchange, alleging that addresses associated with the exchanges had handled funds connected with IRGC-linked counterparties.

A later July 24 action added four individuals and nine entities linked to his network. Treasury said the businesses covered digital asset trading, transportation, financial services, gold and other activities used to move funds inside Iran and through offshore companies.

BitBank had not been designated during those earlier rounds. Treasury says Zanjani had promoted the exchange publicly since at least 2024 and that several companies within his network listed it as a business partner.

As previous Iran crypto sanctions coverage reported, U.S. authorities have increasingly targeted exchanges and wallet networks that officials say provide Iran with access to international crypto markets despite financial restrictions.

Hormuz Safe allegedly routed payments through BitBank

Treasury tied the latest BitBank designation to another Iran-linked crypto payment operation centered on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Since June, Treasury alleges Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority has used BitBank to transfer payments it collected to the Iranian government. OFAC had sanctioned Hormuz Safe on July 29.

Hormuz Safe promoted maritime services including insurance, security, traffic management and emergency assistance for vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz. Treasury said the platform accepted Bitcoin and other digital assets.

U.S. officials described the program as part of an IRGC-linked revenue system. Treasury alleged that some of the risks covered by the maritime insurance arrangement included vessel seizures and other threats associated with Iranian activity in the waterway.

The agency did not publish Bitcoin addresses or transaction hashes when it sanctioned Hormuz Safe in July. Earlier reporting on the Hormuz Safe sanctions noted the absence of public on-chain identifiers and payment totals in OFAC’s initial announcement.

Treasury’s Sept. 17 statement now links those payments to BitBank but still does not provide a transaction-by-transaction trail in its public materials.

The agency says BitBank formed part of the financial infrastructure Zanjani built around the maritime payment system and other sanctioned operations. Treasury has not disclosed how much of the alleged hundreds of millions in Bitcoin came specifically from Hormuz Safe.

U.S. persons must block BitBank-linked property

Following the designation, property and interests in property belonging to BitBank, Pishtaz Simorgh and the three listed individuals must be blocked when located in the U.S. or held by U.S. persons.

OFAC’s 50% rule extends the restrictions to businesses owned directly or indirectly, individually or collectively, 50% or more by blocked parties.

Transactions involving designated people or entities are generally prohibited for U.S. persons unless OFAC issues a license or an exemption applies. Treasury warns that certain foreign institutions and businesses may face sanctions exposure when dealing with blocked Iranian entities.

The Sept. 17 notice labels BitBank and Pishtaz Simorgh as subject to secondary sanctions. The designation therefore extends beyond a simple prohibition on U.S. companies transacting directly with them.

Treasury says civil sanctions violations can be enforced on a strict-liability basis, meaning OFAC can impose penalties without establishing that a party knew it was violating sanctions. Criminal liability involves separate legal standards.

The designations remain subject to OFAC’s administrative removal process. A designated person can petition the agency to be removed from the SDN list by presenting arguments or evidence that the listing no longer has a sufficient basis.

BitBank follows earlier sanctions on Iranian exchanges

The BitBank action extends a series of U.S. sanctions against Iranian crypto platforms during 2026.

In June, Treasury sanctioned Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex, accusing the exchanges of helping sanctioned Iranian actors access digital assets. Earlier coverage of the Nobitex action reported that Treasury described Nobitex as Iran’s largest crypto exchange.

OFAC added Shelbit and Aban Tether on Aug. 7. Treasury alleged Shelbit-linked addresses had sent more than $2 million to IRGC-controlled addresses and received more than $1 million from IRGC-linked wallets.

Aban Tether was accused of processing millions of dollars involving previously sanctioned Iranian exchanges. Related coverage of the August designations noted that Shelbit’s former management denied knowingly participating in money laundering, terrorism financing or sanctions evasion.

Operation Economic Outcast began on Aug. 24 and covers crypto, oil sales, shipping, technology, aviation, gold and other financial channels that Treasury says generate or move revenue for Iranian state-linked entities.

As crypto sanctions campaign coverage reported at the time, Treasury said the campaign would use expanded sanctions authority against companies operating in Iran’s digital asset sector, including actors located outside the country.

The Sept. 17 designation formally places BitBank, Pishtaz Simorgh, Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein and Seyed Adel Heidari on OFAC’s SDN list. Treasury has not announced a related criminal indictment or published the Bitcoin addresses underlying the alleged June-to-July transfers.