Inside the $1B IRGC Crypto Pipeline Hidden in the UK
TRM Labs has uncovered a staggering case of covert financial infrastructure operating in plain sight: two UK-registered crypto exchanges — Zedcex and Zedxion — quietly processed nearly $1 billion in USDT for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Despite presenting themselves as ordinary trading platforms and repeatedly filing “dormant” accounts in the UK, the exchanges were functioning as a single operation embedded deep within Iran’s long-running sanctions-evasion ecosystem.
According to TRM’s analysis, IRGC-linked flows made up as much as 87% of all activity in 2024. The corporate trail points to sanctioned financier Babak Zanjani, whose past involvement in laundering billions for Iranian regime entities underscores that this was not accidental misuse of crypto rails but part of a state-aligned financial network adapting to stablecoins.
The report also highlights direct transfers — without intermediaries — to a U.S.-designated Houthi financier, revealing how the exchanges acted as operational payment rails rather than incidental touchpoints. With most of the activity settled in USDT on TRON, the case shows how deeply sanctioned actors are now integrating with mainstream stablecoin markets.
For regulators and the industry, the findings raise pressing questions about beneficial ownership, offshore corporate shells, and the growing risk of entire crypto platforms being built and controlled by sanctioned organizations.