stable coins
By Steven Anderson
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Ivan Obukhov and Foscom FZE Named. One name stands out in the new batch of designations: Ivan Obukhov.
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A Pattern of Escalating Pressure. The Obukhov and Shelbit designations didn't come out of nowhere.
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The US Treasury just widened its sanctions net — and Iran's crypto sector is squarely in the middle of it.
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The newly issued determination gives OFAC the authority to sanction individuals and companies anywhere in the world if they do business with Iran's digital asset sector.
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One name stands out in the new batch of designations: Ivan Obukhov. He's a UAE-based Ukrainian broker, and the Treasury says he's been processing crypto payments tied to Iranian…
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Also named in the latest round are Shelbit and Aban Tether, two exchanges accused of facilitating roughly $5 million in digital asset transactions linked to Iran.
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The Obukhov and Shelbit designations didn't come out of nowhere. The Treasury has been building this case for months.
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And the numbers keep climbing. The US Treasury Secretary said nearly $1 billion in cryptocurrency had been seized from Iranian entities. That figure is hard to ignore.
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More context: Pakistans SECP Demands Crypto Firms Register by September 5 or Face Shutdown
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The legal backbone for all of this is Executive Order 13902. Under that order, anyone found operating in Iran's digital asset sector can be designated.
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The reach of that secondary pressure is probably the most consequential part of the whole framework. Iran-linked crypto flows don't just run through Iranian exchanges.
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Crypto's role in sanctions evasion has been a growing concern across multiple jurisdictions, not just the US.
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What's unclear is how much of this actually disrupts Iran's oil revenues in practice. Sanctions designations are a legal tool, but enforcement depends on whether foreign…
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Foscom FZE is now blocked. Obukhov is designated. Nobitex got hit in June. And OFAC's new sectoral determination means the list of potential targets just got a lot longer — the…
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