Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs said CoinEx served as a gateway to the crypto sector in Iran, having tracked more than $3.84 billion in flows between the exchange and sanctioned Iranian entities over the past seven years.
TRM Labs said CoinEx became the largest trading partner of Iran’s largest crypto exchange Nobitex, accounting for around $2.7 billion of flows, according to a report published on Wednesday.
CoinEx had direct exposure to transactions with more than 60 Iranian crypto platforms, according to analysis by TRM Labs, which argued that these patterns suggested a coordinated relationship rather than organic market activity.
TRM Labs identified CoinEx’s exposure to several terrorism-linked entities, such as $6 million in transactions involving wallets associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and $374,000 of exposure associated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The US Treasury sanctioned a number of Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges as part of its crackdown on the country’s government earlier this month, including Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex, all of which are cited in the TRM Labs report.
