Overview
- A Reuters investigation published July 31 found that Shelbit, an unlicensed Dubai crypto exchange, processed at least $4 billion in digital assets that investigators tie to an Iran-linked illegal gambling and sanctions-evasion network.
- Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority ordered Shelbit to stop operating on July 24 for running without a licence and breaching KYC and anti-money-laundering rules.
- Blockchain analysis traced identifiable transfers of roughly $676 million from Shelbit-linked addresses to major platforms including Binance, which says it froze and reported related accounts while noting Shelbit held no formal Binance account.
- Investigators say the flows connected a Farsi-language gambling network of more than 2,000 sites, wallets linked to Iran’s central bank and addresses tied by Israel to the IRGC, and some funds originated from an Iranian bitcoin-mining operation.
- The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is reviewing the findings, which could lead to sanctions or formal designations that would force compliant exchanges worldwide to block flagged wallets and trigger wider compliance probes.