The British Companies Registry has moved to dissolve cryptocurrency exchange Zedxion, which is accused of processing funds for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
summary
- British Companies House moved to dissolve Zedxion after findings linked the exchange to transactions linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and misleading incorporation details.
- TRM Labs estimates that Zedxion and Zedcex processed about $1 billion in funds linked to the IRGC, with exposure rising to 87% of volume in 2024.
According to A He notices Companies House, which posted on its website the British Companies Registry, said Zedxion had been shut down due to “information or statement in the application for incorporation that is misleading, false or deceptive”.
earlier investigation Conducted by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project found that Zedxion’s listed director, Elizabeth Newman, was likely a fictitious identity.
Furthermore, the company reportedly used stock photos to represent Newman in promotional materials.
analysis Run TRM Labs found that Zedxion and its sister platform Zedcex processed nearly $1 billion in funds linked to the IRGC, representing about 56% of the platforms’ total transaction volume. Subsequently, that share rose to 87% in 2024, when IRGC-related flows reached approximately $619.1 million.
Zedxion Exchange Ltd was incorporated in May 2021, listing a person named Babak Murtada as a director and a 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 evading sanctions.
The data also shows that Babak Mortada ceased its listing in August 2022, after which Newman was appointed director.
The latest measure comes after the sanctions imposed By the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which designated Zedxion and a related entity, Zedcex, for assisting Iran in evading sanctions and for their ties to the sanctioned financier, Babak Zanjani.
Zanjani was also sanctioned by the United States and the European Union in 2013 for allegedly laundering billions in oil revenues on behalf of Iranian state entities, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. He was later convicted in 2016 of embezzlement and sentenced to death, although his sentence was commuted in 2024 after he repaid the money.
Separately, US regulators are Investigation Binance for alleged sanctions violations linked to more than $1 billion in transactions that may have moved through the platform.
Binance has denied the allegations, stating that it does not deal directly with sanctioned entities and has taken measures to close accounts linked to suspicious activity.
