At least $676 million in crypto moved from an unlicensed Dubai exchange onto Binance since May 2024, Reuters reported. Investigators say the exchange, Shelbit, sits at the center of an Iranian sanctions evasion network.
About $540 million of that moved after Dubai regulators cracked down on Shelbit in January 2025. Binance says it cannot match that number.
The Warning That Changed Nothing
Rich Sanders is an independent blockchain researcher who tracks Iran. He said he warned Binance about Shelbit in October 2025.
The money kept coming. Funds moved from Shelbit to Binance after that warning, the data reviewed by Reuters shows.
Binance did not say what it did about the warning. It said Shelbit never held an account and has never been sanctioned.
“When users associated with Shelbit interacted with our platform, our compliance program operated as it should have: it investigated, froze the relevant accounts, and reported them to law enforcement,” Reuters reported, citing Binance.
The exchange also said an outside analytics firm did not flag the flows as risky. It did not name the firm.
That defense meets an awkward record. Binance pleaded guilty in November 2023 to breaking US money-laundering and sanctions laws. It paid $4.3 billion, one of the largest corporate penalties in US history.
Prosecutors found something specific. Binance had let more than $898 million in trades pass between US and Iranian users. Those trades ran from January 2018 to May 2022.
The deal came with conditions. Binance had to hire an independent compliance monitor for three years.
Shelbit started up about six months into that term. Its cooperation with US investigators has since become a point of dispute.
Watches, an Empty Office and $4 Billion
Shelbit has no website. There is no visible way for the public to trade on it.
Its listed Dubai address sits behind a locked door. The sign reads “Velorix Watches Trading LLC.” That firm belongs to Shelbit’s founder, Siavash Kayvanpour.
A Reuters reporter visited the three-room office in early July. Inside were 13 battered watches, a cash-counting machine and three staff. None had heard of Kayvanpour. The watches were not for sale.
Investigators still traced at least $4 billion through Shelbit since May 2024. Roughly $125 million came straight from Iran’s central bank.
Shelbit also dealt with wallets Israel links to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Another counterparty was Nobitex, Iran’s biggest exchange.
Washington sanctioned Nobitex in June, using the legal power reserved for terrorist financiers. Treasury said Nobitex handled over half of Iran’s crypto inflows in 2025. It also helped regime insiders reach global exchanges.
Shelbit is accused of the same job, from outside Iran.
Where the Money Starts
The cash begins with gambling. Shelbit’s biggest customers were more than 2,000 Farsi-language betting sites.
Reuters mapped that network with cybersecurity firm Infoblox. Gambling is illegal in Iran and carries prison and lashes. The law was updated in 2023 to cover online betting.
The sites still plug into Iran’s domestic payment system. Iran’s central bank controls that system.
“When it comes to gambling, the IRGC learned the Islamic Republic’s most lucrative lesson early: declare something illegal, then control both the prohibition and the black market,” the report read, citing Miad Maleki, former associate director at the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Dubai has now acted. A July 24 notice from the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) cites the UAE’s anti-money-laundering and terrorism-financing law. It says Shelbit threatens the integrity of the country’s financial system.
The regulator has moved this way before. It ordered KuCoin to halt operations in March.
What Nobody Has Proven
One big question stays open. Reuters could not establish who inside Iran controlled Shelbit.
It also could not say where most of the crypto ended up. Blockchain records showed the route. They did not show the driver.
Pressure is building anyway. Washington already pushed Binance over Iran in May. OFAC listings this year have triggered stablecoin freezes within hours. Treasury says it is taking the Shelbit claims seriously.
Binance did not immediately respond to BeInCrypto’s request for comment.
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