The U.S. government has added multiple Bitcoin and Monero (XMR) addresses to its list of sanctioned entities, according to an official announcement.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) identified 49 cryptocurrency addresses linked to Iranian national Behrouz Parsarad, who is accused of operating the Nemesis darknet marketplace.
Among these, 44 Bitcoin addresses and five Monero addresses were flagged. Monero, known for its privacy features, is designed to conceal transaction details and user identities.
Parsarad was the target of an international law enforcement operation in 2024. Before being taken offline, Nemesis reportedly had 30,000 active users and facilitated nearly $30 million in illicit drug sales over three years.
“Parsarad enriched himself from fees he charged users of Nemesis with every transaction, pocketing what OFAC estimates to be millions of dollars over the course of the marketplace’s existence,” OFAC stated. The agency further alleged that, beyond providing a platform for criminal transactions, Parsarad also laundered cryptocurrency for drug traffickers and cybercriminals operating on Nemesis.
The marketplace offered a range of illegal services, including narcotics, stolen personal data, forged documents, ransomware, and cybercrime tools like phishing kits and DDoS services.
These sanctions are reportedly linked to an executive order issued by President Donald Trump aimed at combating the fentanyl trade. Parsarad remains at large and has allegedly “discussed setting up a new darknet marketplace” with former vendors, according to OFAC.
The Treasury Department has taken action against several darknet platforms in recent years. In 2022, law enforcement shut down Hydra Market in what was considered the most significant bust since Silk Road.
In January, Trump granted a pardon to Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who had served over a decade of his life sentence.
