Reuters investigation ties Shelbit crypto exchange to $4 billion in Iran sanctions evasion via iGaming sites

According to Reuters, citing blockchain analysts and crypto-investigation firms, one of Shelbit’s largest clients was a network of more than 2,000 Persian-language gambling sites. At least $130 million passed through a single one of those sites since May 2024, while Shelbit’s total transaction volume topped $4 billion.

That $130 million figure comes from just one site out of a network Reuters says exceeds 2,000. If even a fraction of the remaining sites processed comparable volume, the gambling network alone could account for a meaningful share of Shelbit’s total $4 billion in transactions, though Reuters did not publish a full breakdown across the network.

The investigation also points to links between Shelbit and Iran’s central bank, Iranian mining operations, and other sanctioned entities. Reuters said it could not confirm who ultimately controlled or ran the scheme.

Gambling platforms are a useful channel for this kind of activity precisely because they combine high transaction volume, cross-border deposits and withdrawals, and crypto rails that don’t require the same identity checks as regulated banking. Money moving through a betting site blends into ordinary player activity in a way a direct wire transfer to a sanctioned entity would not.

Dubai’s virtual-asset regulator, VARA, told Reuters it is investigating Shelbit. The regulator noted it had already acted against the company in 2025 for operating without a license, and on July 24 ordered it to immediately halt all unlicensed activity, citing potential anti-money-laundering violations.

Binance told Reuters that Shelbit never held an account on its platform. The exchange did not dispute that hundreds of millions of dollars arrived from Shelbit-linked addresses, saying its compliance systems flagged those transactions, froze the relevant accounts, and referred the activity to law enforcement. The distinction matters: not holding an account for Shelbit directly is different from having no exposure to funds tied to it, and Binance’s own answer confirms the second part happened at scale.