An illicit Iranian gambling network helped move at least $4 billion through an unlicensed Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange that also handled funds for sanctioned Iranian institutions, according to a Reuters investigation that sheds new light on how Tehran is using digital currencies to bypass international restrictions. Blockchain data reviewed by the news agency showed the exchange, called Shelbit, processed money for a Farsi-language gambling operation spanning more than 2,000 websites while also interacting with Iran’s central bank, a sanctioned Iranian exchange known as Nobitex, and digital wallets that Israel has linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Reuters traced tens of millions of dollars from the gambling network through Shelbit’s system and found that at least $676 million flowed from Shelbit-linked addresses to Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency platform, since May 2024 alone. The exchange also processed roughly $125 million connected to Iran’s central bank and received funds from what blockchain investigators described as an Iranian bitcoin-mining operation. Despite handling enormous sums across borders, Shelbit maintained only a ghost presence in Dubai — its registered office was listed above a budget hotel where workers told reporters they had never heard of the company, its website is defunct, and ordinary users have no apparent way to access it.
Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority said it had previously taken enforcement action against Shelbit for operating without a license and ordered it on July 24 to halt all activity over concerns about money laundering, terrorism financing and cross-border sanctions evasion. Two prominent Iranian influencers who promoted some of the gambling sites involved, Sasha Sobhani and Pooyan Mokhtari, denied knowledge of Shelbit or participation in illicit finance. But investigators determined that years earlier the Revolutionary Guards seized control of major online gambling platforms accessible inside Iran and used them as conduits to move money out of the country.
Binance said Shelbit never actually held an account on its platform and that associated transactions were not initially flagged as suspicious before being investigated, frozen and reported to law enforcement authorities. While Reuters could not confirm whether the Guards directly controlled either Shelbit or the broader gambling ecosystem — or trace precisely where much of the money ultimately ended up — the findings illustrate how deeply sanctioned Iranian entities have embedded themselves into loosely regulated corners of global finance even under intensifying Western pressure campaigns targeting their revenue streams.
