The Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on eight Canadian money services businesses that it said help Iran and groups tied to it move money, including by exchanging Iranian rials and other currencies for digital assets. Money services businesses are firms that exchange currency or transfer funds.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control, known as OFAC, made the designations as part of Operation Economic Outcast, a Treasury effort launched in August. Treasury said many of the firms handled transactions with Iranian digital asset exchanges that are already sanctioned, and with digital asset addresses linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Treasury said several of the firms also worked with Ryan Wedding, a Canadian drug trafficker and former Olympic snowboarder whom OFAC has already sanctioned. Treasury said Wedding laundered billions of dollars in drug proceeds through currency exchange firms around Vancouver and Toronto. It said couriers brought bulk cash to those firms, which converted it to digital assets sent abroad. Wedding was apprehended in January 2026 and is in U.S. custody, according to Treasury.

“Canada cannot be a safe haven for illicit financial facilitators that provide sanctions evasion services to the Iranian regime and its proxies,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in the announcement.

The designated businesses are Diverse Trade Inc, doing business as Million Exchange; 1380079 BC Limited, which does business as Amin Exchange; Top PC Technician Inc, an affiliate of 1380079 BC Limited that also operates as Amin Exchange; NIA Nations Currency Ltd; 2397639 Ontario Ltd, doing business as Farah Exchange; CCC Inc; B Galaxy Inc, doing business as Cryptoyal; and Darvish Exchange. Treasury said they operate in Ontario or British Columbia.

Treasury described specific activity for several of them. It said addresses tied to Million Exchange sent the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars to addresses linked to the Guard Corps or other terrorism-related addresses. It said Amin Exchange laundered millions of dollars in drug proceeds at locations in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. It said addresses tied to Farah Exchange sent millions of dollars in digital assets to addresses associated with Wedding.

Treasury said the businesses stayed operational even after Canadian and international media pointed to the sanctions evasion and terrorist financing risks they pose. It said several changed their names and addresses to avoid detection. The release did not say how much money the eight firms moved in total.

The designations were made under Executive Order 13902, which targets the Iranian digital asset sector and other key parts of Iran’s economy. Treasury said it coordinated the action with its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, FINTRAC, which is Canada’s financial intelligence unit, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Under the sanctions, any property of the designated firms that is in the United States or controlled by U.S. persons is blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Any entity that one or more blocked persons own at least 50% of, directly or indirectly, is blocked as well. OFAC can grant a license, and some activity may be exempt, but otherwise U.S. persons and anyone acting within the United States generally may not deal with them.

Treasury said violations can bring civil or criminal penalties for U.S. and foreign persons, and OFAC can impose civil penalties without proof of intent. It also said financial institutions and others could face sanctions exposure for certain dealings with blocked persons. The release describes sanctions, not criminal charges, against the firms.

Treasury said it will keep targeting the Iranian digital asset ecosystem and the international entities that help it operate. Businesses that want to be removed from the sanctions list can ask OFAC, which publishes guidance on the process.