Peace talks appear stalled, or even halted completely - despite President Trump's denials - and the US Department of Treasury is still swinging hard, as part of the ongoing effort to bring about economic collapse in Iran and 'solve' the Hormuz Strait shipping crisis.In the latest installment of Washington's economic whac-a-mole, the US on Tuesday unveiled sanctions on Iran's biggest cryptocurrency exchange - and several others, for allegedly enabling the Iranian government and blacklisted state institutions to thwart US and EU sanctions.The largest platform, identified as Nobitex, is believed to have assisted in allowing hundreds of millions of dollars to pour into Iran's central bank and the ⁠Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as a sanctions work-around and parallel financial system.via Shutterstock "While Iran’s economy is in free ⁠fall, the regime has chosen to co-opt digital asset technologies for its own corrupt agenda, including evading sanctions and transferring wealth out of the country," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated in announcing the new action."Following the commencement of U.S. combat operations in Iran, Nobitex played a role in protecting and moving assets and funds out of Iran to shield regime ‌wealth despite ​internet blackouts," the statement added.Nobitex rejected that it has direct government connections and denied that it has been assisting state institutions. It also said it did nothing to conceal the identities of the owners.As for ownership, Reuters has documented:...Nobitex is controlled by two brothers from one of Iran’s most ​powerful families, with close ‌ties to the new supreme leader. The two are members of the Kharrazi family, one of the most influential dynasties ‌in the Islamic Republic. Corporate records show that when the exchange started, the brothers were listed under a surname rarely used by members of the family.The brothers were named by the Treasury as Seyed Mohammad ‌Ali Aghamir Mohammad Ali ⁠and Seyed Mohammad Aghamir Mohammad Ali, who were also subject to individual sanctions, along with the exchange’s chief executive officer, Amir ⁠Hossein Rad.Last Friday Bessent detailed how the US has seized a total of $1 billion in Iranian cryptocurrency assets to date as part of the economic component of President Trump's Operation Epic Fury.During a speech before the Reagan National Economic Forum, Bessent stated:"Just outright grabbed the wallets. Some of them may be typing in right now and might not realize their wallet had been grabbed."Assets are held "on behalf of the Iranian people" - he described, while framing that the Iranian government had 'stolen' the money from the Iranian populace.Did this action help fuel BTC's crashing well below $68K on Tuesday?Today's sanctions against Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex target the Iranian digital asset exchanges responsible for at least 72% of all Iranian digital asset inflows in 2025.