Key facts
- The U.S. Treasury sanctioned cryptocurrency wallets linked to Iran's Central Bank and the IRGC.
- Tether froze over $131 million in USDT across four Tron blockchain addresses.
- The action is part of Operation Economic Fury, targeting Iran's illicit financial activities.
- Seven individuals and entities involved in an Iranian weapons procurement network were also sanctioned.
- This follows a previous freeze of $344 million in USDT in April.
The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned multiple cryptocurrency wallets tied to Iran's Central Bank and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), leading stablecoin issuer Tether to freeze over $131 million in USDT across four addresses on the Tron blockchain. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed the move, stating the U.S. would "aggressively follow the money and deny the Iranian regime access" to illicit funds. The Treasury also separately sanctioned seven individuals and entities involved in a global Iranian weapons procurement network.
On-chain analyst Specter identified the frozen addresses, tracing links to the IRGC and Iran's central bank, and noted that most funds had previously been withdrawn from payment service provider DTC Pay and Latin American exchange Bitso. Blockchain analytics firms like TRM Labs and Chainalysis highlight the visibility of transactions on public networks like Tron, enabling U.S. agencies to track funds, making Iran's crypto workaround less secure than it appears.
This action is part of Operation Economic Fury, a U.S. campaign against Iran's illicit financial activities. Since its inception, the U.S. Treasury has seized approximately $1 billion in Iranian crypto assets. This latest freeze follows a similar action in April, where Tether froze over $344 million in USDT tied to Iran's central bank. In June, the Treasury sanctioned Iran's four largest exchanges.
Amid rising Middle East tensions, crypto prices steadied. Bitcoin and Ether saw consolidation after earlier gains driven by a softer U.S. inflation report.