U.S. Treasury Seizes $1B in Iran-Linked Cryptocurrency

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced at the Reagan National Economic Forum in Simi Valley, California, on May 29, 2026, that the U.S. Treasury had seized about $1 billion in Iran-linked cryptocurrency wallets as part of Operation Economic Fury.

Bessent described the total as cumulative enforcement built up over months and said some wallets were taken without warning. “I believe that we have seized about a billion dollars of their crypto,” he told the forum. “Just outright grabbed the wallets. Some of them may be typing in right now and might not realize that their wallet has been grabbed.” The Treasury had reported roughly $500 million in frozen crypto by late April before updating the total.

One prominent action took place on April 24, 2026, when stablecoin issuer Tether froze $344 million in USDT tied to two Tron blockchain addresses, divided into roughly $213 million and $131 million. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis assisted in identifying the addresses, and the freeze matched updated designations from the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Before the intensified enforcement, Iran was reported to move about $400 million to $500 million per month through cryptocurrency, mainly USDT, to support oil sales and operations by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Treasury has added more than 1,000 Iran-linked entities and wallet addresses to sanctions lists under the campaign.

Operation Economic Fury, launched in March 2025 under presidential direction, extends beyond crypto enforcement. The campaign includes freezing bank accounts, designating procurement networks, coordinating naval activity near the Strait of Hormuz and working with European partners to seize properties linked to Iranian elites. Assets seized are being held pending legal proceedings that could lead to forfeiture and potential claims by victims of terrorism.

Bessent said sanctions relief would be conditional and that further designations and forfeiture actions are expected. He described Iran’s economy as facing hyperinflation above 200 percent, unpaid military and police personnel, reliance on food vouchers, internet shutdowns and a collapsing rial, adding that the government was under severe financial strain.

The Treasury is using blockchain analytics and cooperation with private companies to trace digital fund flows and link addresses to state and proxy networks. Enforcement differs by type of crypto: stablecoins and managed tokens can be frozen by issuers or through controls on infrastructure, while decentralized assets like bitcoin generally cannot be frozen in the same way. Bessent noted that proposed Iran-linked plans to collect Strait of Hormuz tolls in bitcoin or to offer a bitcoin-based maritime insurance product called Hormuz Safe face heightened scrutiny.

The campaign places increased compliance expectations on stablecoin issuers, exchanges and blockchain infrastructure providers when they encounter sanctioned actors, and it relies on the traceability of blockchain records to map transactions and identify links to sanctioned networks.