U.S. Seizes Nearly $1 Billion in Iranian Crypto Wallets

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told attendees at the Reagan National Economic Forum that U.S. authorities seized roughly $1 billion in cryptocurrency tied to Iranian wallets. The action is part of Operation Economic Fury, a campaign launched in March 2025 to reduce funds available to Iran’s leadership and security forces.

Bessent noted the newly disclosed total is about double the $500 million announced in late April and well above an earlier $344 million figure. He added that, before the U.S. campaign, Iranian authorities had been diverting $400 million to $500 million a month and distributing proceeds among roughly 80 leaders.

Since March, U.S. officials and international partners have frozen bank accounts, seized cryptocurrency holdings and coordinated the confiscation of properties linked to the Iranian government. Treasury officials described using legal and technical tools, including blockchain tracing, to identify and take control of wallet addresses tied to Iranian entities.

Bessent described economic effects inside Iran, saying inflation has likely exceeded 200 percent, food vouchers are being issued, internet access has been restricted and as many as 40 to 50 percent of Iranian troops are not receiving pay. He also noted that negotiations with Iran are complicated by a fractured leadership after recent U.S. and Israeli strikes on senior regime figures.

Bessent told the forum: “I believe that we have seized about a billion dollars of their crypto. Just outright grabbed the wallets. Some of them may be typing in right now and not have realized that their wallet had been grabbed.” He said the combined military actions and Operation Economic Fury over roughly five to six weeks had significantly reduced the regime’s access to financial flows.

Officials described the seizures as one of the largest known U.S. efforts targeting cryptocurrency linked to a single foreign government and said the operation depended on coordination with allies and on emerging enforcement techniques.

State-linked documents outline proposals for alternative revenue streams that rely on digital assets. One plan describes a platform called “Hormuz Safe” to sell digital marine insurance payable in Bitcoin, and representatives of Iran’s oil exporters have proposed charging a Bitcoin-denominated tariff of $1 per barrel for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.