OFAC Sanctions Eight Canadian Money Services Businesses

OFAC has designated eight Canadian money services businesses under US Iran-related sanctions, alleging that they facilitate financial channels used by the Iranian regime, sanctioned entities and other illicit actors. The Canadian MSB sanctions were announced on 6 November 2026 as part of Operation Economic Outcast, with Treasury saying the action was coordinated with FinCEN, FINTRAC and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The consequence is a US sanctions designation and its associated blocking prohibitions, not a declaration that a Canadian court has convicted the businesses. FINTRAC’s separate statement confirms coordination while explaining the limits on what it can disclose about compliance action concerning specific firms.

Canadian MSB sanctions count entities, not shop names

The OFAC designation list names eight entries. The principal names and identifying aliases are:

• DIVERSE TRADE INC, also known as MILLION EXCHANGE, MILLION MONEY EXCHANGE and MILLIONEX.
• 1380079 BC LTD, also known as AMIN EXCHANGE VANCOUVER and SARAFI AMIN.
• TOP PC TECHNICIAN INC, also known as 2840711 ONTARIO INC, AMIN EXCHANGE TORONTO and AMINEX TORONTO.
• NIA NATIONS CURRENCY LTD, including the aliases NIA EXCHANGE and NIA NATIONS CURRENCY EXCHANGE.
• 2397639 ONTARIO LTD, also known as FARAH EXCHANGE.
• CCC INC, whose aliases include CCURRENCY EXCHANGE, CRYPTOYAL and SARAFI C.
• B GALAXY INC, whose aliases include CRYPTOYAL and C EXCHANGE.
• DARVISH EXCHANGE, also known as KANATA MD INC and CANADA EXCHANGE.

Treasury describes 1380079 BC Limited and Top PC Technician as closely associated businesses using Amin Exchange branding. They remain two designated entities. Shared branding similarly does not collapse CCC Inc and B Galaxy Inc into a single legal entry.

OFAC identifies six TRON addresses across four entries: three under 1380079 BC LTD and one each under 2397639 ONTARIO LTD, CCC INC and DIVERSE TRADE INC. That is neither eight addresses nor an address allocation to every company on the list.

Treasury alleges Iranian exchange and other illicit links

Treasury says the firms exchange Iranian rials and other currencies for digital assets to support international transactions involving Iran. It alleges that many have dealt with sanctioned Iranian exchanges or addresses associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It also alleges that several worked with the already OFAC-sanctioned Ryan Wedding, including cash-to-digital-asset transfers linked to drug proceeds.

The designation authority is Executive Order 13902, with Treasury stating that the businesses operated in the digital asset sector of the Iranian economy. The release provides entity-specific allegations rather than asserting identical conduct by all eight. For example, its discussion of NIA Nations names transactions involving IRGC-associated addresses and sanctioned exchanges, while the Million Exchange and Amin Exchange passages additionally describe alleged drug-proceeds activity.

Those are Treasury’s grounds and allegations supporting sanctions. They are not reported here as new criminal verdicts or proof that every customer using an Iranian currency-transfer service has committed an offence.

Blocking rules and Canadian oversight remain different tools

Treasury says property and interests in property of designated persons within the United States or in US persons’ possession or control are blocked and reportable to OFAC. Its notice also describes the 50-percent ownership rule and the general prohibition on relevant transactions by US persons or within or transiting the United States, subject to authorisation or exemption. This is the blocking framework also relevant to the expanded Prince Group sanctions and Treasury’s North Korea IT-worker designations.

FINTRAC confirms its role in the coordinated action but does not announce a Canadian conviction of these eight businesses. Its statement reports broader enforcement activity, including 161 MSB registration revocations since the start of 2026. That aggregate statistic cannot be turned into a claim that each newly designated business has had its registration revoked. The agency expressly notes legal limits on disclosure of specific compliance actions.

For compliance readers, the operational lesson is to resolve legal entities and aliases before assuming a brand count matches a designation count. Two Amin Exchange entries and overlapping Cryptoyal branding make that distinction tangible. Screening only the trading name risks losing the designated corporate identity; counting each alias as another business inflates the action. The address list is another separate dataset: six identifiers attached to four entries, not a substitute for the full entity list.

The legal mechanisms also need to stay separate. OFAC designation creates US blocking consequences; Canadian registration oversight has its own reporting and disclosure rules. Neither should be described as a criminal conviction. Coordination shows that the agencies worked together, but it does not make their powers interchangeable. A shared announcement can therefore require separate decisions about US blocking exposure, Canadian regulatory status and the evidence supporting each identified entity, rather than one undifferentiated blacklist conclusion. FinCEN’s withdrawn Travel Rule threshold proposal illustrates yet another mechanism—proposed reporting changes—rather than a sanctions list action.

The companion MEXC FinCEN order uses a transfer prohibition with a publication-linked start date. Here, the documents to follow are the eight SDN entries and any specific public notices FINTRAC is legally able to issue about subsequent Canadian compliance action.

Sources

• Treasury: eight Canadian MSBs, 6 November 2026
• OFAC: Iran-related designations, 6 November 2026
• FINTRAC statement, 6 November 2026

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