UK Firms Allegedly Move $1B in Stablecoins to Iran: Report
Two UK-Registered Companies Moved $1B in Stablecoins for Iran: Report
TRM Labs says two companies registered in the UK moved large volumes of stablecoins in activity tied to financing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to findings included in the firm’s 2026 Crypto Crime Report.
The report names Zedcex and Zedxion, which presented themselves publicly as standard cryptocurrency exchanges. TRM Labs said that, despite that positioning, the two entities functioned in practice as a single operation.
While the companies were UK-registered, the alleged flow of funds highlights how cross-border crypto infrastructure can be used to facilitate sanctions-linked financing, particularly through stablecoins that are designed to move quickly and reliably across networks.
The findings add to a broader pattern seen in crypto crime research: illicit actors often rely on legitimate-sounding front-end services to access liquidity and move funds, while maintaining operational control behind multiple corporate identities.
TRM Labs’ identification of Zedcex and Zedxion also underscores the compliance challenge for regulators and the industry, as the jurisdiction of registration may not reflect where an operation is effectively run or who ultimately controls it.
