A UK company based at the same location as an Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges empire sanctioned by the US for allegedly processing Strait of Hormuz tolls has been shut down by regulators.
Suffering the same fate is a second firm on Britain's companies register that bears a similar name to an Iranian conglomerate also sanctioned by the US as part of its economic warfare campaign against Tehran.
In recent days, the US has sanctioned BitBank, which Washington alleges routed hundreds of millions of dollars to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after receiving cryptocurrency payments for the Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, which runs the so-called Tehran tollbooth.
The exchange is controlled by 52-year-old Iranian billionaire Babak Zanjani. Another of his businesses, the Dot One conglomerate, was placed under sanctions in July. Dot One includes an airline, a rail operator and a ride-sharing service.
According to the UK’s Companies House registry, a business named Bitbankers Investment Ltd was founded in May 2024 and another entity, Dot One Group Ltd was established in April 2025.
Bitbankers Investment's accounts show that it was established with capital of £1 billion. Its last filing up to date at 31 May 2025 showed it had £10 million ($13.2 million) in its bank account.
Bitbankers Investment was originally registered at a home in north London but moved to an office addresses facility that was also used at various times by the crypto firms, Zedcex and Zexion.
The two UK-registered cryptocurrency exchanges, controlled by Mr Zanjani, were sanctioned by the US in January. The billionaire was also sanctioned, and his companies were accused of processing funds for cryptocurrency wallets linked to the IRGC.
Bitbankers Investment lists the nature of its business as administration of financial markets, insurance agent and broker activities, and financial management, similar to the activities of Zedcex and Zexion.
Companies House says the nature of Dot One Group's business is “freight rail transport, taxi operation, freight transport by road, scheduled passenger air transport”, which is similar activity to the reported focus of the Iranian airline operator.
Dot One Group was registered using the same brass plate address as the other companies. It declared capital of £1 million, but never filed accounts before it was struck off in July. Bitbankers Investment was struck off a week later.
Companies House says it does not comment on individual cases but the filing history of Bitbankers Investment and Dot One Group gives potential clues as to why they were struck off.
Both their addresses were moved to Companies House's default address, which happens when Companies House is satisfied that a company “does not have an appropriate registered office address”. A company has 28 days to say it has changed its address to an appropriate one, or steps will be taken to dissolve it.
According to Companies House, other reasons for a strike-off include that there is a “reasonable cause to believe the company was registered in a false basis”. This includes any information or statement that is “misleading, false or deceptive”.
Angelika Hellweger, a lawyer who is specialist in international, high-level economic crime investigations, described the two companies as “unusual” and whose presence in the UK “leaves a lot of questions”.
“It could be that Companies House took action or that other people reported it to Companies House,” Ms Hellweger, legal director of London-based firm Rahman Ravelli, told The National.
Both Zedcex and Zexion were founded with share capital of £1 million, and accounts show their assets were exactly that amount throughout their filing histories. They were also moved to a Companies House default address before being struck off.
After it was registered in August 2022, Zedcex processed more than $94 billion in transactions, the US said. Multiple Zedcex and Zedxion-attributed addresses have processed funds for cryptocurrency wallets linked to the IRGC, according to the US.
Mr Zanjani's current visible business activities include an $800 million rail contract with the Iranian government awarded to Dot One.
He has also been involved in the aviation business and has previously owned Qeshm Air. Last year, he launched Dot One Airlines. The US has imposed sanctions on it.
Mr Zanjani was sentenced to death in 2016 for embezzling millions from the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company. His sentence was commuted in 2024 and by 2025 he had publicly re-emerged as a backer of regime-linked projects to evade sanctions.
