The United States sanctions 8 Canadian companies involved in Iranian digital asset transactions.

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned eight Canadian money-services businesses on Nov. 6, accusing them of converting Iranian rial and other currencies into digital assets to facilitate Iran-related international transactions. OFAC said several of the firms had transacted with sanctioned Iranian crypto exchanges and addresses tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The designations were made under Executive Order 13902, targeting the firms’ digital-asset activity in Iran’s economy. The action matters because it extends U.S. sanctions pressure into the crypto rails used to move value in and out of Iran, potentially forcing counterparties to screen exposure to the named Canadian firms. Watch for follow-on designations of exchange-linked addresses and for whether other payment processors handling rial-to-crypto conversions adjust their compliance controls.