Dubai exchange Shelbit implicated in $4B Iranian sanctions evasion route

An unlicensed Dubai crypto exchange, Shelbit, moved at least $4 billion since May 2024 for Iranian gambling operators and sanctioned state entities, a series of investigations corroborated by Reuters revealed.

The revelation makes it the latest crypto platform to be uncovered as a channel for moving money past sanctions by Tehran.

Shelbit sits alongside Nobitex, the Iranian exchange that the US blacklisted in June, and the oil-money network run by sanctioned tycoon Babak Zanjani. Each of these platforms was a workaround that was revealed after investigators followed the blockchain.

Shelbit was operating openly from a Dubai office and was run by an Iranian expatriate named Siavash Kayvanpour.

Who was Shelbit’s biggest customer, and were they linked to Iran?

Investigators say that Shelbit’s biggest customer is a Farsi-language online gambling operation built on more than 2,000 websites. Gambling is illegal inside Iran and carries criminal penalties, yet the network has access to the country’s central-bank-supervised payment rails. Blockchain records trace tens of millions of dollars in crypto from the gambling sites into Shelbit’s wallets.

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