Treasury says OFAC designated BitBank, an Iranian exchange it claims was used to launder funds and transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The exchange is described as "a priority digital assets venture" controlled by previously sanctioned financier Babak Zanjani. Treasury also designated BitBank's developer and three Zanjani associates. The action falls under "Operation Economic Outcast," the broader campaign Treasury says is aimed at severing Iran's sanctions evasion channels. Secretary Bessent: "Today's designations of Iranian digital asset infrastructure make perfectly clear that efforts to finance the Iranian regime using cryptocurrencies are not beyond OFAC's reach. If you support the Iranian regime, the Department of the Treasury will sanction you."

Ranking Announcement 🎉 @bitbank_inc is ranked as the top Japanese 🇯🇵 exchange in @coingecko 's latest crypto asset exchange ranking (as of June 8 , 12:00 JST). We're currently ranked #25# globally 🌎 🎉. Check it out!

Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings agrees to acquire Bitbank, a top 10 Japanese crypto exchange by trading activity, for ~$289M, set to close in October (@jamiecrawleycd / CoinDesk) (Visit Techmeme dot com for the link and full context!)

🚨 Iran has been charging tankers $1–2M for “safe passage” through the Strait of Hormuz, with payments accepted in bitcoin and other digital assets. OFAC just sanctioned BitBank, the crypto exchange used to move some of those payments.

📰 CoinMarketCap | Top News 📰 24 stories on the front page right now. 🔹 Ethereum schedules Oct.6 Glamsterdam Sepolia test, warns of builder attacks 🔹 US Treasury sanctions Iran's BitBank over Hormuz Safe Bitcoin transfers to IRGC 🔹 UK FCA issues final crypto guidance on activities needing authorization under 2027 regime Which story are you most interested in? Read every story here 👇

Projects Fundraising on RootData (Jun 22 - Jun 28) Last week, 23 blockchain companies/projects received funding. 💎 @bitbank_inc — Cryptocurrency exchange, acquired by SBI Holdings in $289M. 💎 @fomo — Cross-chain trading app, raised $75M in Series B by @IndexVentures, @usv, @benchmark & others. 💎 @alliumlabs — Blockchain data infrastructure, raised $40M in Series B by @AmplifyPartners, @kleinerperkins & @TheoryVC. 💎 @OnyxOdds — Financial products for the compute economy, raised $33M in seed round by @a16zcrypto, @CrucibleCap, Galaxy Ventures & others. 💎 @OnyxOdds — Sports prediction and betting platform, raised $20M led by @Payward. 💎 @CNPYNetwork — Layer 1 development framework, raised $8.5M by @Arrington_Cap, @fenbushi, @snzholding & others. 💎 @CambrianNetwork — AI infrastructure agreements, raised $6M by @polychain, @FranklnTempletn, @NomadCapital_io & others. 💎 @TurboFlow_xyz — Onchain trading platform, raised $6M in seed round by @PanteraCapital, @DCGco and Susquehanna Crypto.

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) has added three Iranians and two Iranian businesses to its sanctions list, while simultaneously designating three Cuban individuals and six Cuban state-owned entities and removing several Belarusian entities from the sanctions list. The Iranian designations target Seyed Adel Heidari, Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein and Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein, along with Bitbank and Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company. OFAC lists the individuals and entities under its Iran sanctions authorities and says they are subject to secondary sanctions. The Cuban designations target three individuals and six state owned research, defense, mining and industrial entities. Meanwhile, OFAC removed several Belarusian entities, including Lakokraska and Kontsern Bellesbumprom, from the SDN List. Source: