U.S. slaps sanctions on Yonge Street crypto businesses, alleging they aided Iran's regime

The U.S. government slapped sanctions on eight Canadian cryptocurrency businesses, accusing them of aiding the Iranian regime and, in some cases, helping alleged cocaine kingpin Ryan Wedding launder drug profits .

In a statement released Friday, the U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the businesses in the Toronto and Vancouver areas allowed sanctioned Iranian entities to use their services, providing the regime with a financial lifeline and the ability to continue to finance terrorism and proxy groups.

Two of the businesses on the U.S. list were highlighted earlier this year in an investigation by the Toronto Star and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which found scores of unauthorized crypto businesses along Yonge Street, reaching from Toronto to its suburbs.

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

The U.S. crackdown is also the latest twist in the case of Wedding, a Canadian ex-Olympic snowboarder who the FBI and the RCMP have accused of running a criminal enterprise that worked with the Sinaloa Cartel to move tons of Colombian cocaine from Mexico via Southern California into Canada, and orchestrating multiple murders.

Three of the businesses on the sanction list — two in the Toronto area and one in Vancouver — allegedly helped Wedding launder billions of dollars worth dirty money, OFAC alleged. “He has used couriers to transport bulk cash to those firms, which convert the funds to digital assets to send abroad,” the office said.

Following his arrest in January, Wedding pleaded not guilty in California court to 17 federal felony counts of murder, drug charges and other alleged crimes. He remains in custody ahead of trial year.

Hundreds of thousands laundered through GTA crypto shops to Iran-regime addresses

One of the newly-sanctioned companies is Million Exchange in Richmond Hill. Digital wallets associated with this establishment have sent hundreds of thousands of dollars in crypto to addresses associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which Canada has designated as a terrorist organization, or other terrorism-related addresses, OFAC alleged. The agency also accused Million Exchange of helping alleged drug dealers — including Wedding — use crypto to launder proceeds.

Earlier this year, the Star/ICIJ investigation found that a wallet associated with Million Exchange had received more than half a million dollars worth of crypto from an account allegedly tied to the IRGC. Canada has designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization.

The business had also engaged in crypto transactions without properly registering with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (Fintrac) , the investigation found. Though the agency launched a crackdown on the Canadian crypto sector in the wake of the story, Million Exchange remained open to customers, and has since registered with Fintrac to deal in cryptocurrency.

Million Exchange did not respond to the Star’s questions by deadline.

In its statement, Million Exchange had said that for safety and security reasons, the company does not own any cryptocurrency wallets, and that the wallet that the Star was asking questions at the time was controlled by another company that helps it settle payments.

Darvish Exchange, located in Toronto’s Little Iran neighbourhood, was also sanctioned by OFAC Friday, with the agency alleging it had transacted with sanctioned Iranian crypto exchanges — the digital currency equivalent of a bank.

In the same investigation the Star and ICIJ published earlier, a cryptocurrency wallet linked to Darvish Exchange was found to have funnelled $10,000 into accounts that Israeli officials alleged are connected to Iran’s regime.

Darvish Exchange did not respond to questions sent by the Star Friday.

OFAC’s sanctions are part of its sweeping crackdown targeting Canadian-based companies associated with the Iranian regime. Canada “is to hundreds of money services businesses” that enable the movement of funds into and out of Iran, OFAC said in a statement.

These entities remain operational, despite media sources highlighting their track record of sanctions evasion and terrorist financing-related risks, OFAC added.

Canadian anti-money laundering watchdog Fintrac worked with OFAC and the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to impose sanctions, the agencies said in separate statements.

“The Centre has also taken aggressive action on its own in relation to money services businesses dealing in virtual currency,” Darren Gibb, spokesperson for Fintrac, said.

Since the beginning of 2026, FINTRAC has revoked registrations of 161 money services businesses, more than the last three years combined, he noted.

Calvin Chrustie, a former senior RCMP transnational crime officer, said many Canadian money services businesses have a historic track record of facilitating and enabling criminal and terrorist networks.

Friday’s action is “probably just the beginning of numerous investigations and intelligence operations into other Canadian national security and economic security threats,” he said.

What are crypto-to-cash desks?

Million Exchange and Darvish Exchange are among a growing crypto-to-cash industry that allows customers to quickly and covertly swap huge sums of digital currency for bills. Though some offer the service legally, the Star/ICIJ investigation found many are openly flouting laws meant to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing .

The proliferation of crypto-to-cash desks has been met with growing alarm from experts and regulators. Earlier this year, Fintrac found a significant number of businesses appear to be “knowingly facilitating money laundering, sanctions evasion (primarily linked to Iran), drug-proceeds integration and a variety of transnational organized crime activities,” according to an internal briefing obtained by the Star. The briefing did not say which specific businesses it was referring to.

Fintrac launched a crackdown on crypto businesses in the wake of the Star/ICIJ reporting, while experts urged the agency to go even further to rein in the sector.

Nick Smart of Crystal Intelligence, a firm that offers tools to track suspicious crypto transactions, said OFAC’s crackdown is “overdue” but welcome. Crystal Intelligence has been raising concerns Million Exchange and other Canadian crypto-to-cash businesses for more than a year, he said.

“We welcome that action has been taken,” he said. “What took you so long?”

Bribery charges, and a deadly shootout in Mexico

The sanctions follow the Department of Justice’s Thursday announcement of charges against a Mexican judge for allegedly accepting a $2-million bribe to release Wedding’s alleged second-in-command, Canadian Andrew Clark, from prison.

Mexican judge arrested in Ryan Wedding case. U.S. says he took $2 million bribe to free Canadian right-hand man

Mexican federal judge Luis Benítez Alcántara, 49, of Mexico City, was arrested on Sunday in

That same day, Mexican authorities revealed a businessman alleged to have protected Wedding while he was a fugitive was killed in a shootout with federal officers. Agents were executing an arrest warrant for Edgar Aarón Vázquez, also known as “The General,” earlier in the day when they were hit by gunfire. Both Vázquez and a second man died in the exchange.

Cartel boss accused of being Ryan Wedding’s protector is shot dead in gunfight with Mexican police

Edgar Aarón Vazquez, identified as the leader and founder of the New Empire Cartel, was shot