A Dubai crypto exchange with no license quietly became a money pipeline for an illicit Iranian gambling network.
New reporting from Reuters says Shelbit funneled funds for a Farsi-language gambling operation that spanned more than 2,000 websites. Reuters reported that the exchange carried at least $4 billion from that operation. The news outlet followed tens of millions of dollars in gambling proceeds as they passed through Shelbit.
A Hidden Money Trail Through Dubai
According to Reuters, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) took over prominent gambling sites inside Iran years earlier and used those outlets to send money overseas. The outlet was unable to confirm whether the IRGC directly ran Shelbit or the broader gambling operation.
Shelbit processed the network's money even though it was not licensed to operate in Dubai. Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) said it had already acted against Shelbit for lacking the necessary license.
Ties to Sanctioned Money
Reuters reviewed blockchain data indicating that Shelbit had contact with Iran's central bank, the sanctioned exchange Nobitex, and wallets Israel associates with the IRGC. Shelbit also received money that blockchain investigators said came from an Iran-based bitcoin-mining operation.
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Money also moved through Shelbit from gambling platforms that Sasha Sobhani and Pooyan Mokhtari, Iranian influencers, had promoted. Both said they did not know the exchange and denied any role in sanctions evasion, money laundering, or acting for Iranian state institutions.
The Regulator Steps In
VARA cited worries about money laundering, terror financing, and cross-border transfers.
For ordinary users, the platform appears effectively inaccessible.
Shelbit's corporate registration listed an office above an inexpensive hotel in Dubai; employees there told Reuters they were unfamiliar with the firm.
Reuters also discovered that, since May 2024, at least $676 million went from addresses tied to Shelbit to Binance, the largest crypto trading platform worldwide. Binance stated that Shelbit never maintained an account there and that linked transactions were not flagged as high-risk at first. The platform said it reviewed and froze the relevant accounts and alerted law enforcement.
No response to Reuters' requests for comment came from Siavash Kayvanpour, who founded Shelbit, or from Iran's government and the IRGC. The final destination of much of the money could not be established by Reuters.
Why This Matters
The Shelbit case demonstrates that an unlicensed digital-asset intermediary can become a crucial gateway for cross-border financial crime. While blockchain records are public, the identities behind wallets remain hard to trace, and that gap allowed billions to move before regulators acted. The exchange processed funds connected to Iran's central bank, sanctioned entities, and gambling networks.
Together, these findings show how crypto intermediaries operating in legal gray areas can become central to cross-border financial schemes. The billions that moved through Shelbit were visible on the blockchain, yet the platform operated without a license until VARA ordered it to halt.
The episode also illustrates the limits of public blockchain data: transactions are traceable, but the people behind those wallets were not easy to identify until after enormous sums had moved.
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