Nobitex, Irans biggest crypto exchange, handled at least $2.3 billion on Tron and $BNB Chain since 2023, based on a blockchain investigation by Reuters.
The two networks were built around Justin Sun and Changpeng Zhao, two crypto billionaires who also gave early support to World Liberty Financial, the Trump familys crypto project.
The money kept running through those chains as the United States and Israel continue their war against Iran.
Iranian users sent billions through chains linked to Sun and Zhao
Since January 1, 2023, Nobitex handled more than $2 billion on Tron, and it also handled at least $317 million on $BNB Chain, the network once known as Binance Smart Chain.
Since Trumps war started in February, at least $22.6 million passed through Nobitex on $BNB Chain, while at least $550,000 went through Tron.
Nobitex is used by regular Iranians and sanctioned Iranian bodies, and it is allegedly controlled by two brothers from a powerful Iranian family with ties to Irans new supreme leader.
But Nobitex has vehemently denied direct Iranian government ties, as well as helping the state, saying that any illegal funds that passed through its platform did so without approval or knowledge from management.
Nevertheless, the exchange has been a major part of Irans crypto rails since as far back as 2022 when $7.8 billion in crypto reportedly passed between Nobitex and Binance from 2018 to 2022.
Around three quarters of that Iranian-linked activity used Trons cryptocurrency, as Nobitex allegedly told clients Tron-based crypto could help them trade anonymously without “endangering assets due to sanctions.”
Source: Arkham Intelligence
John Reed Stark, a former chief of the SEC Office of Internet Enforcement, called the use of those chains by institutions in a country at war with the United States a “dramatic irony.” He said, “The entities doing crypto financing through these platforms are the very ones that the president is trying to defeat in the war.”
The White House rejected the link. Spokeswoman Anna Kelly said, “Reuters‘ bizarre attempts to link President Trump to Iran’s banking system are totally laughable.” She directed questions to World Liberty Financial.
A World Liberty spokeswoman said the company has no relationship with Nobitex and follows U.S. law. She said, “World Liberty does not own, operate, or control Tron in any way, and has no authority over transactions conducted on it.”
World Liberty gained support from crypto figures while Iran used the same networks
Ana Nicoara, a $BNB Chain spokeswoman, said, “$BNB Chain is a public, permissionless blockchain maintained by an independent global community of validators. It is not an exchange, not a company, and not Binance.”
While a Tron spokeswoman said the network is a technology provider and cannot “monitor and investigate every user and every transaction” or stop every trade.
She said Justin helped create a law enforcement program that has frozen “hundreds of millions” in funds, including assets “tied to sanctioned entities and terror financing.”
Crypto exchanges like Binance let users buy and trade coins. Blockchains like Tron and $BNB Chain record wallet activity on public ledgers. They host many assets, including native coins and stablecoins like Tether. The Iranian-linked activity is only a small part of total volume on both networks.
Sanders and another Iran crypto specialist said Irans central bank used Tron and $BNB Chain. The United States sanctioned the bank in 2019 over claims that it gave billions of dollars to the IRGC and Hezbollah.
A January report by Elliptic and the two Iran specialists said the central bank bought more than $500 million of Tether through Tron from November 2024 to June 2025.
Source: Nobitex
Elliptic allegedly said that about $347 million of that amount was sent to Nobitex through Tron in the first six months of last year. The specialists said the bank also swapped the stablecoin into other coins and used other chains, including $BNB Chain, before sending part of it back to Nobitex and other exchanges.
Since Nobitex started in 2018, analysts estimate it has handled tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars linked to sanctioned wallets tied to Irans central bank and the IRGC.
Tether said it froze several wallet addresses tied to Nobitex after Israel asked it to do so. Israels National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing did not comment. Tether said exchanges and platforms must handle compliance when tokens trade on secondary markets.
U.S. regulators also pulled back on crypto enforcement after Trump took office. The Securities and Exchange Commission settled a fraud case against Justin in March for $10 million, with no admission of wrongdoing.