UK shuts down crypto exchange Zedxion after sanctions probe ties platform to Iranian networks

Britain’s company register has moved to dissolve cryptocurrency exchange Zedxion, accused of processing funds for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

According to a notice published on its website, Britain’s company register, Companies House said Zedxion has been shut down due to “information or a statement in an application for incorporation that is misleading, false or deceptive.”

An earlier investigation conducted by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project found that Zedxion’s listed director, Elizabeth Newman, was likely a fictitious identity.

Further, the company reportedly used stock images to represent Newman in promotional material.

Analysis conducted by TRM Labs found that Zedxion and its sister platform Zedcex processed roughly $1 billion in funds with connections to the IRGC, accounting for about 56% of the platforms’ total transaction volume. Subsequently, that share rose to 87% in 2024, when IRGC-linked flows reached approximately $619.1 million.

Incorporated in May 2021, Zedxion Exchange Ltd listed an individual named “Babak Morteza” as both director and person with significant control. Meanwhile, records show that the identifying details associated with that name match those of Babak Zanjani, an Iranian businessman previously accused of sanctions evasion.

Data further shows that “Babak Morteza” ceased to be listed in August 2022, after which Newman was appointed as director.

The latest action follows sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which designated Zedxion and a related entity, Zedcex, for helping Iran evade sanctions and for links to sanctioned financier Babak Zanjani.

Zanjani has also been sanctioned by the U.S. and European Union in 2013 for laundering billions in oil revenue on behalf of Iranian state entities, including the IRGC. He was later convicted in 2016 for embezzlement and sentenced to death, though the sentence was commuted in 2024 after he repaid funds.

Separately, U.S. regulators are probing Binance over alleged sanctions violations tied to more than $1 billion in transactions that may have moved through the platform.

Binance has denied the allegations, stating that it does not directly transact with sanctioned entities and has taken action to shut down accounts linked to suspicious activity.