The United States has imposed sanctions on eight Canadian currency exchange institutions involved in transactions with Iran, for assisting in the exchange of crypto assets.

November 7 - The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced financial sanctions on 8 Canadian money services businesses, accusing them of providing financial services to sanctioned Iranian entities and facilitating the conversion of currencies such as the Iranian rial into crypto assets for cross-border transactions.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury pointed out that the institutions involved facilitated transactions with sanctioned Iranian crypto exchanges and digital asset addresses associated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC); U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that Canada cannot become a safe haven for illicit financial intermediaries evading sanctions, and the U.S. will cut off the Iranian regime's funding networks globally; this sanctions action was carried out jointly with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC). (Cointelegraph)