The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned eight Canada-based money services businesses (MSBs), accusing them of helping Iranian-linked actors use currency exchange and digital assets to move funds internationally.
The designations, announced on Nov. 6, 2026 by Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), are part of Operation Economic Outcast, a U.S. campaign targeting financial channels that Treasury says support Iran’s government, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and sanctioned Iranian exchanges. FINTRAC, Canada’s financial intelligence unit, said it coordinated with OFAC and FinCEN on the action.
The sanctions focus on the crypto conversion layer
Treasury’s core allegation is not only that money moved through Canada. It says the named businesses exchanged Iranian rials and other currencies for digital assets, allowing international transactions involving Iran while interacting with sanctioned Iranian digital asset exchanges and, in some cases, digital asset addresses associated with the IRGC or terrorism-related activity.
That detail is operationally significant for financial-technology firms, banks, payment processors and crypto platforms that rely on sanctions screening. OFAC’s release and SDN List update include aliases, websites, Canadian registration numbers and, for several entries, TRON digital currency addresses. The enforcement record shows how this action reaches beyond business names and street addresses into wallet-level identifiers and exchange relationships.
The eight businesses named by OFAC
OFAC’s Nov. 6 SDN List update named companies and trade names tied to addresses in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec. The businesses listed were:
Diverse Trade Inc., doing business as Million Exchange, Million Money Exchange and Millionex.
1380079 BC Ltd., also known as Amin Exchange Vancouver and Sarafi Amin.
Top PC Technician Inc., also known as 2840711 Ontario Inc., Amin Exchange Toronto and Aminex Toronto.
NIA Nations Currency Ltd., also known as NIA Exchange, NIA Nations Currency Exchange and NIA Nations Exchange.
2397639 Ontario Ltd., doing business as Farah Exchange.
CCC Inc., also known as C Currency Exchange, Sarafi C, C Exchange, Parsis Exchange, Salam Exchange and Sarafi Capital.
B Galaxy Inc., also known as Cryptoyal and C Exchange.
Darvish Exchange, also known as Kanata MD Inc. and Canada Exchange.
OFAC designated all eight under Executive Order 13902 for operating in the digital asset sector of the Iranian economy. Treasury said several of the entities changed business names and addresses in an attempt to avoid detection and enforcement actions.
What the designation does
Under the sanctions, property and interests in property of the named businesses that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Entities owned at least 50 percent, directly or indirectly and in total, by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.
OFAC generally prohibits transactions involving blocked property by U.S. persons or within or through the United States, unless authorized or exempt. The agency also warned that sanctions violations may lead to civil or criminal penalties for U.S. and foreign persons, and that civil penalties can be imposed on a strict-liability basis.
FINTRAC points to a broader Canadian enforcement push
FINTRAC’s statement framed the sanctions as part of regular cooperation with foreign financial intelligence units on money laundering, terrorist financing and sanctions evasion. The Canadian agency also said it has revoked 161 money services business registrations since the beginning of 2026, more than the previous three years combined.
FINTRAC said it imposed administrative monetary penalties on nine MSBs over the past year for more than C$198 million, citing violations such as failure to register and failure to report large virtual currency transactions. It also said Canada’s Bill C-12, passed in March 2026, increased the potential criminal penalty for operating without valid MSB registration to a fine of not more than C$5 million, imprisonment for a term of not more than five years, or both, on indictment.
The agency also disclosed 28 cases of MSB non-compliance to law enforcement over the past year and pointed to a September 2025 RCMP money-laundering investigation that seized more than C$56 million in cryptocurrency, described by FINTRAC as the largest crypto seizure in Canadian history.
FINTRAC did not announce company-specific Canadian penalties against the eight businesses in its public statement. The agency said the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act limits its ability to disclose compliance actions involving specific businesses except through a public notice for an administrative monetary penalty.
Drug-money allegations broaden the case
Treasury also connected several of the sanctioned businesses to Ryan Wedding, an OFAC-sanctioned Canadian former Olympic snowboarder who is awaiting trial in the U.S. on drug trafficking and other charges. Treasury said Wedding used exchange businesses in the Vancouver and Toronto areas to launder billions of dollars in drug proceeds, with couriers moving bulk cash to firms that converted funds into digital assets for transfer abroad.
According to Treasury, Wedding was apprehended in January 2026, but several of the sanctioned MSBs transferred millions of dollars’ worth of digital assets for him before he was taken into U.S. custody. Treasury specifically alleged that Amin Exchange laundered drug proceeds for Wedding in Vancouver and that Farah Exchange sent millions of dollars in digital assets to addresses associated with him.
A separate FinCEN action shows the wider target
The Canadian MSB designations landed the same day FinCEN issued a separate order against MEXC Global, a convertible virtual currency exchanger. FinCEN said MEXC facilitated at least US$16 billion in illicit transactions connected to sanctions evasion involving Iran, North Korea and Russia, as well as cybercrime. The order bars covered U.S. financial institutions from sending funds to or receiving funds from MEXC Global starting 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
Together, the OFAC and FinCEN actions point to a U.S. enforcement focus on the infrastructure that converts local currency, cash or exchange-house activity into cross-border digital assets.
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