The US Treasury expands sanctions on the Babak Zanjani crypto community, naming ZEDX DMCC, ZedPay, and BZ Diamond as newest targets.
The US Treasury’s Workplace of International Property Management widened its sanctions web on July 24. The motion targets businessman Babak Zanjani and his Dot One industrial community.
Treasury had beforehand sanctioned crypto exchanges Zedcex and Zedxion.
This time the checklist stretches into gold manufacturing, funds, and transportation. Blockchain intelligence agency TRM Labs had already flagged a number of of those entities in previous analysis.
New Entities Tied to Zanjani’s UAE Operations
ZEDX DMCC tops the newly designated checklist.
The Dubai-based agency displays the community’s shift towards the UAE over time. TRM Labs discovered that operations moved away from short-lived UK firms.
Dubai more and more served because the industrial anchor for the group. UAE entities provided steadier infrastructure than the UK corporations that got here earlier than them.
ZedPay additionally made the checklist because the community’s cost platform. TRM Labs had linked ZedPay to the trade infrastructure properly earlier than the sanctions.
Company filings and branding tied ZedPay carefully to Zedxion and associated corporations. Fee processing seems to have been a core piece of the ecosystem, not a aspect enterprise.
BZ Diamond DMCC rounds out the newly named UAE companies. The valuable metals agency connects to Bahareh Zanjani by public information.
Technical infrastructure behind the corporate traces again to figures seen elsewhere within the community. Its inclusion exhibits Treasury is prepared to sanction corporations far exterior crypto once they assist the identical ecosystem.
Immediately Treasury’s OFAC expanded sanctions on Babak Zanjani’s community, concentrating on the industrial infrastructure behind sanctions evasion.
A number of newly designated entities, together with ZEDX DMCC, ZedPay, and BZ Diamond, had been recognized in TRM Labs’ earlier investigation.
Full… pic.twitter.com/CVap1AVG2t
— TRM Labs (@trmlabs) July 24, 2026
Treasury Additionally Sanctions Community Personnel
Mehdi Rezazadeh, ZedPay’s chief government, was individually sanctioned alongside the businesses. TRM Labs had already recognized him as a senior determine within the Zedxion ecosystem.
Studies present Rezazadeh took half in boards on mining funding between Africa, Russia, China, and Iran. UK company information additionally join him to earlier entities linked to the community.
His designation alerts a shift in enforcement technique.
Treasury is now concentrating on the individuals working these firms, not simply the companies themselves. TRM Labs’ analysis described a sample of shared management throughout the community.
Administrators and executives resurfaced repeatedly throughout crypto, cost, and industrial entities over a number of years.
Learn additionally: EU Targets Russian Crypto Platforms in New Sanctions Package deal
A Wider Net Past Crypto Exchanges
TRM Labs’ analysis documented how the community cycled by company buildings. UK firms regularly went dormant or modified management, just for new entities to look.
Branding and digital infrastructure typically stayed constant by these transitions. Area registrations and technical directors recurred throughout a number of firm adjustments, TRM Labs famous.
The broader community spans aviation, rail transport, commodity buying and selling, journey companies, and valuable metals. Every enterprise appeared impartial on paper.
Collectively, TRM Labs mentioned, they shaped a diversified system that unfold danger throughout sectors and jurisdictions. That construction let operations proceed whilst particular person corporations confronted scrutiny or dissolution.
TRM Labs mentioned the case exhibits why investigations have to look previous wallets and exchanges. Compliance groups ought to mix blockchain evaluation with company and area analysis, the agency mentioned.
Networks like Zanjani’s depend on cost suppliers, logistics corporations, and trusted personnel to operate at scale. Treasury’s newest motion displays that wider understanding of how sanctions evasion operates in the present day.