The U.S. Treasury said it has seized nearly $1 billion in cryptocurrency linked to Iran, widening Washington’s financial campaign beyond the banking system and into on-chain networks. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at the Reagan National Economic Forum that U.S. authorities were tracking funds tied to Iran’s overseas networks and targeting channels Tehran has tried to use outside traditional finance.
Treasury broadens action from banks to blockchain wallets
Bessent described the crypto seizures as part of a larger Treasury effort to cut off revenue connected to Iran’s government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The campaign has included sanctions, frozen bank accounts, and action against blockchain wallets linked to Iranian networks. The Treasury has framed the push as part of a financial pressure campaign ordered by President Donald Trump, and the report says the Office of Foreign Assets Control has sanctioned more than 1,000 Iran-linked entities.
Bessent also said U.S. officials would keep following money Iran was trying to move abroad and would continue targeting financial routes tied to the regime. The message was clear: wallets are now being treated as part of the country’s operating financial infrastructure.
Tether froze $344 million in USDT on Tron
In April, OFAC sanctioned multiple crypto wallet addresses linked to Iran’s IRGC. Tether then froze $344 million in USDT across two Tron addresses in coordination with U.S. law enforcement, according to the Treasury statement cited in the report. It was described as the largest known crypto action of its kind in this case.
The report said blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis connected the addresses to on-chain patterns associated with known Iranian military wallets. One wallet reportedly held about $213 million, while the second held around $131 million. U.S. officials said at the time that the frozen funds were part of a broader effort to stop Iran state-linked actors from moving value through digital assets. The total later moved past $500 million, and Bessent’s latest comments put the figure close to $1 billion.
Reports tied crypto payments to overseas weapons sales
The seizures came after earlier reports that Iran had begun accepting digital assets for overseas weapons sales. As previously reported by crypto.news, Iran’s Ministry of Defense Export Center, known as Mindex, introduced payment terms in January that allowed military contracts to be settled in digital currencies.
The same report said Mindex also allowed barter arrangements and payments in Iranian rials. That gave Iran more settlement options at a time when sanctions had constrained access to conventional financial rails.
Bitcoin toll proposal in the Strait of Hormuz raised sanctions questions
The report also said Iran considered requiring ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz to pay transit tolls in Bitcoin during a temporary ceasefire with the United States in April. The idea was described as an attempt to collect revenue outside banking channels while preserving influence over a critical oil route.
For shipping companies, the proposal introduced legal and operational questions because making such payments could have created sanctions exposure. Treasury’s latest figures show U.S. officials now see crypto wallets as part of Iran’s financial infrastructure, and Washington is continuing to pursue those channels.