Two cryptocurrency exchanges in the United Kingdom operated quietly for years while processing a huge amount of stablecoin transactions tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
According to the detailed analysis report shared by TRM Labs, the two platforms were disguised as standard crypto exchange platforms, but during investigations, it was later found that their major activities were closely linked to helping one of the world’s most heavily sanctioned military organizations process and transfer money without any trace.
How the Two Crypto Exchanges Used a Co-operative Structure to Avoid Detection
Based off the report, there were two different exchanges, and although they operated as one, they appeared on paper as separate companies. Zedcex and Zedxion (the two exchanges) shared the same directors, registration details, and also the same corporate changes.
This structure and connection allowed the business to look like it was a legitimate business on the surface. However, they secretly moved large amounts of money without drawing any kind of attention from the authorities.
The details shared also showed that there was a huge rise in the number of activities linked to IRGC-associated wallets over a short period of time. In 2023, for instance, different addresses connected to the IRGC contributed to the amount coming into the two platforms.
Source: TRM Labs
That number significantly increased the following year, as there was a record of hundreds and even millions of dollars in community exchanges, making other crypto platforms that have been sanctioned take responsibility for all recorded activity during that period. Although the proportion later declined in 2025, the overall volumes remained very high.
The two exchanges were also linked to an Iranian financier who had been previously sanctioned by the Western authorities for laundering oil revenues on behalf of the state’s entities. On-chain data also tied the two exchanges directly to addresses that were seized by Israeli authorities and blocklisted by major stablecoin issuers.
Most of the transfers were done using USDT on the TRON blockchain, and the funds were routed between different offshore intermediaries and domestic Iranian platforms. With this, they were able to create a circular flow that helped them bypass traditional financial controls.
The operation extended beyond crypto trading alone, as they were integrated with a Turkey-based payment processor that provided access to fiat settlement channels and also real-world payment capabilities. In almost all of the platforms, the two exchanges that were linked had prior or ongoing regulatory sanctions.
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