Cryptocurrency and Blockchain

The US Treasury sanctioned crypto exchanges Shelbit and Aban Tether for laundering millions of dollars on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. OFAC identified more than $1 million in crypto transferred from IRGC-controlled wallets to Shelbit and $2 million flowing from Shelbit back to the IRGC. The agency also blacklisted Iranian national Siavash Kayvanpour and his network across Georgia, Poland, and the UAE after tracing over $2 million in digital asset transfers from his wallets to Nobitex, Iran's largest exchange. Aban Tether routed transactions through multiple sanctioned Iranian platforms, including Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex. Washington is cutting off access to digital asset rails alongside Iran's broader shadow banking network. The pressure falls directly on global stablecoin issuers and foreign financial intermediaries, who must blacklist designated wallet addresses or face secondary sanctions. Tether froze $131 million in USDT following a Treasury action against Iran's central bank last month.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune delayed a vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act until mid-September 2026, defeating efforts led by Senator Cynthia Lummis to force a vote before the August recess. The legislation requires 60 votes to clear a Senate filibuster, but leadership failed to assemble a majority following opposition from both parties. Democrats refused to advance the bill without tighter ethics restrictions targeting public officials, citing President Donald Trump's disclosure of earning more than $1 billion from digital asset ventures in 2025. Concurrently, banking lobbyists pushed back against stablecoin provisions, arguing that unconstrained stablecoin rewards would drain core bank deposits. That banking opposition split the Republican conference, with Senators Josh Hawley and Jerry Moran publicly withholding support. The bill lacks the votes to proceed. The postponement leaves digital asset firms without a federal market structure framework and forces lawmakers to revisit the bill during a narrow three-week session starting September 14, 2026, just weeks before the midterm elections.

Bybit obtained a preliminary injunction in a U.S. federal court freezing digital assets tied to the North Korean state-sponsored Lazarus Group following a $1.5 billion cyberattack, coindesk.com reports. The Dubai-based crypto exchange, currently the world's second-largest, filed a civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, its Reconnaissance General Bureau intelligence agency, and the Lazarus Group. The court order legally blocks unidentified John Doe defendants from transferring or selling the targeted crypto assets while litigation proceeds. On February 21, 2025, hackers executed the largest heist in crypto history by pulling over 400,000 Ethereum and staked Ethereum out of Bybit. According to Chainalysis data cited in the report, North Korean hackers stole $2.02 billion in cryptocurrency last year, bringing their lifetime plunder to $6.75 billion used primarily to fund state weapons programs. The civil freeze operates separately from ongoing U.S. criminal investigations as Bybit seeks further court relief to claw back funds.