Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs said CoinEx acted as a gateway for the crypto sector in Iran, after tracking more than $3.84 billion in flows between the exchange and sanctioned Iranian entities in the past seven years.
TRM Labs said CoinEx became the largest single trading partner of Iran’s largest crypto exchange Nobitex, which accounted for about $2.7 billion of the flows, according to a report published on Wednesday.
CoinEx had direct transaction exposure with more than 60 Iranian crypto platforms, according to TRM Labs’ analysis, which argued that these patterns suggested a coordinated relationship rather than organic market activity.
TRM Labs identified CoinEx exposure to several terror-related entities, such as $6 million in transactions involving wallets linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and $374,000 exposure linked to Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The US Treasury Department sanctioned a number of Iranian crypto exchanges as part of its campaign against the country’s government at the start of this month, including Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex, all of which are cited in TRM Labs’ report.
