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Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs has traced more than $6.3 billion in flows through Shelbit, the Dubai-registered exchange sanctioned by the US Treasury on August 7, 2026, with roughly 88% of that volume moving on Tron almost entirely in dollar-pegged stablecoins. The analysis covers May 2024 through March 2026 and was detailed in coverage published August 10.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Shelbit, founder Siavash Kayvanpour, and affiliated entities across the UAE, Poland, and Georgia under Executive Order 13224. Iran-based Aban Tether, which has no connection to Tether, the USDT issuer, was separately designated under Executive Order 13902.
The most structurally revealing finding is what Shelbit's wallets did not hold. Inbound and outbound amounts matched to within 0.1%, and balances sat at virtually zero, a pattern TRM describes as a settlement conduit rather than an exchange holding customer funds.
Approximately $5.56 billion moved on Tron in dollar-pegged stablecoins at an average transaction size near $54,500.
Key Takeaways
- TRM Labs traced $6.3 billion through Shelbit between May 2024 and March 2026.
- About 88% moved on Tron in dollar stablecoins, roughly $5.56 billion at around $54,500 per transaction.
- Wallets held almost no balances, with inflows and outflows matching within 0.1%.
- Roughly $318 million linked to Russia's A7 network and other sanctioned services.
- Dubai's regulator acted twice without effect, and only the US asset freeze halted operations.
What OFAC Designated
The August 7 action named Shelbit alongside Shelbit General Trading LLC, Poland-based Shelbit Technologies Ltd, and UAE-based Crypto Home DMCC and NFT Home DMCC, all connected to Kayvanpour. Treasury cited digital currency transfers between Shelbit and wallets controlled by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The specific transaction evidence Treasury published is modest relative to the traced totals. IRGC-linked wallets sent more than $1 million to Shelbit addresses, more than $2 million flowed from Shelbit addresses to IRGC wallets, and Kayvanpour-controlled wallets sent over $2 million to Nobitex, the previously sanctioned Iranian exchange.
Aban Tether was designated for processing transactions involving sanctioned Iranian platforms including Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex. The name similarity to Tether is coincidental, and the entities are unrelated.
Shelbit disputes the characterization. The company issued a statement on August 1 rejecting any suggestion it knowingly participated in money laundering, terrorist financing, or sanctions evasion, and said it ceased operations in January 2026.
Why the Tron and Stablecoin Concentration Matters
The 88% figure is the detail with the clearest implications for the stablecoin industry. Tron combined with dollar-pegged stablecoins has become the default rail for high-volume offshore settlement, and this case documents that pattern at a scale enforcement rarely makes visible.
The average transaction size of roughly $54,500 is also telling. This is not retail activity or the sub-dollar payments that dominate stablecoin transaction counts; it is wholesale value transfer sized like correspondent banking.
The pattern is not new to Iranian networks specifically. Elliptic research documented Iran's central bank accumulating over $500 million in USDT through Tron and Ethereum wallets, which we covered in our Iran central bank USDT analysis, and TRM traced a further $125 million from the central bank to Shelbit in this investigation.
Reach extended beyond Iran. TRM identified roughly $318 million connected to Russia's sanctioned A7 payment network and other designated services, alongside a Hamas-linked address and dozens of gambling platforms.
The Enforcement Lever Is the Issuer
What makes stablecoin-based evasion different from cash or hawala is that someone can switch it off. Centralized issuers can freeze balances at any address, and Treasury has increasingly relied on that capability rather than pursuing only the platforms.
The record this year shows the mechanism working repeatedly. Tether froze approximately $344 million across two Tron addresses in April, and after Treasury designated four wallets tied to Iran's central bank in July, Tether froze roughly $131 million more.
Cumulatively, US authorities have seized or frozen close to $1 billion in Iran-linked crypto since this enforcement campaign began, including actions against Zedcex and Zedxion in January and Nobitex in June. Compliance infrastructure carries much of that burden, and the screening and sanctions tooling we assessed in our crypto compliance tools guide is what platforms use to avoid becoming the next designated intermediary.
The uncomfortable corollary is that traceability and freezability are the same property. The transparency that let TRM reconstruct $6.3 billion in flows is the transparency critics of stablecoin privacy have long objected to, and the freeze function that stops sanctioned actors is the function that makes these instruments centrally controllable.
Regulatory Arbitrage on Display
Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority took enforcement action against Shelbit General Trading in January 2025 and again in July 2026, ordering it to cease unlicensed virtual asset activity. Treasury's own designation notice states that the entity remained in business regardless.
That sequence is the case study. Local licensing enforcement did not stop the flows, and what halted them was a US designation freezing dollar-denominated assets and cutting access to correspondent relationships.
The regulatory response is already forming around exactly this gap. Proposed federal rules would treat permitted payment stablecoin issuers as financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act, requiring technical capability to block, freeze, and reject impermissible transactions on both primary and secondary markets, which we detailed in our FDIC AML and sanctions rule coverage.
Timing matters for the industry's positioning. Enforcement of this scale surfacing while CLARITY Act negotiations remain stalled over illicit finance provisions gives opponents of a lighter framework a concrete case to cite.
Conclusion
The Shelbit case is the clearest public accounting yet of how sanctioned networks use stablecoin rails at scale. Six billion dollars through wallets holding nothing, at wholesale transaction sizes, on a single chain in a single asset class, is a precise description of a settlement layer rather than an exchange.
For the stablecoin industry, the finding cuts in two directions. It confirms that dollar tokens on high-throughput chains serve illicit settlement at meaningful volume, and it demonstrates that this activity is reconstructible and freezable in ways cash never was.
The open question is scope. TRM's $318 million link to Russia's A7 network suggests this conduit connected sanctions programs that regulators have generally treated separately, and how far that connectivity extends is what the next round of investigation will determine.
FAQ:
1. What did OFAC sanction on August 7, 2026?
The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Dubai-registered Shelbit Exchange, its founder Siavash Kayvanpour, and affiliated entities in the UAE, Poland, and Georgia under Executive Order 13224. Iran-based Aban Tether was separately designated under Executive Order 13902 for processing transactions involving sanctioned Iranian exchanges including Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex.
2. How much money flowed through Shelbit?
TRM Labs traced more than $6.3 billion in blockchain flows through Shelbit wallets between May 2024 and March 2026. Approximately 88%, or around $5.56 billion, moved on the Tron network almost entirely in dollar-pegged stablecoins, at an average transaction size of roughly $54,500.
3. Is Aban Tether related to Tether?
No. Aban Tether is an Iran-based cryptocurrency exchange with no connection to Tether Limited, the issuer of USDT. The similarity in name is coincidental, and the two entities are entirely separate organizations.
4. Why does TRM describe Shelbit as a settlement conduit?
Shelbit's wallets held virtually no balances, with inbound and outbound amounts matching to within 0.1%. Value entering the platform left almost immediately, which is inconsistent with an exchange holding customer funds and consistent with a pass-through settlement layer moving value between counterparties.
5. How much Iran-linked crypto has been frozen?
US authorities have seized or frozen close to $1 billion in Iran-linked cryptocurrency since the enforcement campaign began. Tether froze approximately $344 million across two Tron addresses in April 2026 and roughly $131 million more in July after Treasury designated wallets tied to Iran's central bank, following earlier actions against Zedcex, Zedxion, and Nobitex.
Disclaimer:
This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal, or tax advice; no material herein should be interpreted as a recommendation, endorsement, or solicitation to buy or sell any financial instrument, and readers should conduct their own independent research or consult a qualified professional.
