Britain's corporate registry, Companies House, has moved to forcibly dissolve Zedxion Exchange Ltd., a U.K.-registered cryptocurrency platform that U.S. authorities sanctioned in January for processing funds linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The dissolution notice cites information in Zedxion's incorporation filing that was "misleading, false or deceptive" - a finding that traces directly to an investigation revealing the company's listed director was a fictitious identity backed by a stock photo.
The action follows a January 30 OFAC designation of both Zedxion and its sister company, Zedcex Exchange Ltd., also registered in the U.K. - the first time OFAC has designated digital asset exchanges for operating in Iran's financial sector.
Both were linked to Babak Zanjani, a sanctioned Iranian financier with documented ties to the IRGC, who had initially been listed as Zedxion's director.
The Shell Company Structure
Investigators from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project found that "Elizabeth Newman," described in filings as a Dominican national and listed as Zedxion's director and person with significant control, was almost certainly fictitious.
The company used a stock photo model's image to represent Newman in marketing materials.
Despite filing dormant accounts with Companies House, blockchain analysis by TRM Labs found the two exchanges processed approximately $1 billion in IRGC-linked transactions - roughly 56% of their total transaction volume, with that share rising to 87% in 2024.
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Scale of the Operation
Zedcex alone processed over $94 billion in total transactions since its August 2022 registration, per OFAC data.
Seven cryptocurrency addresses associated with the two platforms were designated by OFAC, operating primarily through Tether (USDT) on the Tron (TRX) network.
Expanded UK Enforcement Powers
Companies House is now exercising expanded authority under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. Since November 2025, all directors and people with significant control of U.K.-registered companies have been required to verify their identities.
The registrar has also had the power since March 2024 to query and remove suspicious information from the register without waiting for criminal proceedings.
Neither Zedxion nor Zanjani responded to requests for comment before publication.