Dubai Crypto Exchange Shelbit May Have Helped Iran Evade Sanctions | Ukraine news

Dubai Crypto Exchange Shelbit May Have Helped Iran Evade Sanctions

A modest office above a budget hotel concealed a platform tied to billions in cryptocurrency transfers and an investigation spanning Iran and Dubai.

The unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange “Shelbit,” registered in Dubai, may have been a key link in a large-scale scheme to evade sanctions by Iran. Since May 2024, at least $4 billion in cryptocurrency has passed through its wallets, including funds from a network of illegal Farsi-language gambling websites.

The operators of the network, which includes more than 2,000 websites, promoted it through Iranian influencers Sasha Sobhani and Pouyan Mokhtari. Both were convicted in absentia in Iran in 2023 in a case involving illegal gambling. Shelbit founder Siavash Keyvanpour was sentenced to three months in prison in the same case for aiding and abetting.

Gambling is prohibited in Iran and may be punished by imprisonment and corporal punishment. In 2023, the country’s legislation was separately amended to include liability for online betting. At the same time, the network of websites linked to Sobhani and Mokhtari accepted payments through Iran’s domestic payment infrastructure, which is controlled by the Central Bank of Iran.

Cryptocurrency flows and links to sanctioned entities

Blockchain analysts found that tens of millions of dollars from the gambling network’s wallets could be traced to Shelbit. The exchange also conducted transactions with the Central Bank of Iran, the Iranian cryptocurrency exchange Nobitex, and wallets that Israeli authorities had linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

According to researchers’ estimates, Shelbit received at least $125 million from the Central Bank of Iran, much of it directly. Another at least $20 million came through intermediary wallets from a cryptocurrency mining operation likely linked to Iran.

Mining involves using computers to create new digital coins. Iran legalized this activity in 2019 but required miners to obtain state licenses. Bitcoins and other crypto assets mined in the country have become one of the tools for accessing international financial markets under sanctions.

Since May 2024, Shelbit addresses have transferred at least $676 million to the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Around $540 million of that amount was moved after Dubai’s regulator fined the platform for providing unlicensed digital asset exchange services and advertising them.

Binance said that Shelbit had never held an account on the platform and was not subject to sanctions. The company did not dispute that transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars had taken place, stressing that such transactions were not considered high-risk.

When users connected to Shelbit interacted with our platform, our compliance program worked properly: it conducted checks, froze the relevant accounts, and notified law enforcement authorities.

In 2023, the United States fined Binance $4.3 billion for violating anti-money-laundering rules, including by processing cryptocurrency transactions linked to Iran.

Dubai regulator’s investigation

Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, known as VARA, is examining Shelbit’s possible role in money laundering and sanctions evasion. The regulator is also investigating the activities of Siavash Keyvanpour and other Iranians connected to the cryptocurrency-based illegal gambling sector.

VARA confirmed that in 2025, together with Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, it took enforcement action against Shelbit for operating without a license. On July 24, the regulator issued an order citing violations of anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing laws and requiring the immediate cessation of all unlicensed virtual asset activities.

Shelbit’s registered office is located above a budget hotel in Dubai’s Deira district. Velorix Watches Trading, another company owned by Keyvanpour, is registered at the same address. During a visit to the three-room office, visitors found a display case with watches, a cash-counting machine, and several employees who said they had never heard of either Keyvanpour or the cryptocurrency exchange.

Shelbit is effectively inaccessible to the general public: the platform’s website no longer works, and there is no way to conduct a transaction online.

The gambling network and the role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Former Iranian officials and people previously associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claim that the organization took control of a large segment of the country’s online gambling industry about a decade ago. According to them, the authorities used gambling platforms to move funds between Iran’s domestic financial system and overseas markets.

When financial enterprises become large and operate independently of the ruling elite and security forces, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps begins to control them. Gambling websites were used as a way to connect financial systems inside and outside the country.

According to researchers, more than 60 Iranian influencers advertised the network’s websites. About half of them have more than one million followers, while three have audiences of more than 10 million people.

Miad Maleki, who until last year served as deputy director of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and helped develop policy to counter Iran’s sanctions evasion, considers the scheme illustrative of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ economic model.

Ideology is the brand of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, while profit is its business model. When it comes to gambling, the Corps learned the Islamic Republic’s most profitable lesson very early: declare something illegal, then control both the ban and the black market.

At the same time, it has not been established whether the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had direct control over the gambling network and Shelbit, or who exactly within Iran’s state system was managing the possible sanctions-evasion scheme. There is also no reliable information about where a significant share of the transferred cryptocurrency ultimately went.

Sobhani and Mokhtari deny links to the scheme

Sasha Sobhani, whose real name is Mohammad Javad, promoted music and gambling websites on social media. He displayed a luxurious lifestyle, including a villa in Madrid and expensive cars. Sobhani has around 3.7 million followers on Instagram.

Pouyan Mokhtari also combined displays of supercars, watches, and luxury travel with music content and posts supporting the Islamic Republic. His Instagram page was previously deleted, after which he moved to the Vatan platform, which he described as his own Farsi-language social network.

Mokhtari denied being a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or any other Iranian military formation. He also rejected allegations brought against him in Dubai, where he was detained on suspicion of financing Iranian terrorist groups.

I am not part of these organizations, but I would like to become like them one day – not to attack anyone, but to protect people. I have never used my capabilities, money, or position on social media to interfere with anyone or harm humanity.

According to Mokhtari, after being detained in Dubai in late March, he was held for 35 days and then deported from the United Arab Emirates. He claimed to have lost assets, including funds in UAE bank accounts and a house worth $5 million.

After his deportation, Mokhtari lived in Hong Kong and later announced his intention to return to Iran. On July 8, he posted a message from Bangkok before flying to Tehran. There have been no new posts from him since then.

Sobhani said that he does not know Siavash Keyvanpour and has no information about the gambling websites’ access to Iran’s payment system. He also insists that his involvement in promoting “abt90” was limited to paid advertising on social media.

I categorically deny any involvement in money laundering, sanctions evasion, terrorist financing, or moving money on behalf of the Iranian government, the Central Bank of Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or any other Iranian state institution.

The scale of Shelbit’s operations, its links to Iranian payment infrastructure, mining, and international cryptocurrency platforms show how digital assets can be used to move large sums outside the traditional banking system. The Dubai regulator’s investigation is expected to determine who was behind these flows and what their ultimate purpose was.

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Source: mezha.net