In a recent announcement, the U.S. Treasury Department declared that freezing $344 million in cryptocurrency is part of its strategy to disrupt financial networks associated with Iran. The move was made public on Friday by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent via an X post, where he highlighted the sanctions imposed by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on multiple crypto wallets linked to Iran, resulting in the freeze.
Bessent emphasized that this initiative is a component of a larger effort known as “Economic Fury,” aimed at tracking and targeting Tehran’s financial operations abroad. This announcement followed Thursday’s action by Tether, which blacklisted two Tron blockchain addresses holding $344 million in USDT collectively. Tether did not respond to inquiries for comment.
A U.S. official informed CoinDesk that the sanctioned wallets had significant connections to the Iranian regime, including dealings with Iranian exchanges and routing through intermediary wallets tied to the Central Bank of Iran’s accounts. The Treasury Department noted that Iran has been increasingly utilizing digital assets to obscure its cross-border transactions due to sanctions.
Iran is reportedly adopting more intricate transaction methods to hide its involvement in international payments and sustain trade under sanctions pressure. To counter this, OFAC is intensifying its efforts against traditional front companies as well as the use of digital currencies, according to the official. Additionally, the U.S. agency sanctioned Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co. on Friday, accusing it of being a significant player in Iran’s oil sector.
The Treasury Department continues its collaboration with blockchain analytics firms and maintains communication with financial institutions, including crypto exchanges, to monitor illicit transactions involving sanctioned entities.