U.S. Treasury sanctions Iran-linked crypto wallets, freezes $344 million

The Treasury Department moved to choke off Iran’s digital cash pipeline, sanctioning multiple cryptocurrency wallets and freezing $344 million as Washington widened pressure on Tehran even during a fragile ceasefire.

Scott Bessent said the action targeted wallets tied to Iran, underscoring how sanctions enforcement is shifting into blockchain analytics, wallet tracing and platform blacklisting. In one key step, Tether froze two Tron-based addresses holding about $213 million and $131 million in USDT after U.S. authorities shared information linking the funds to unlawful activity. Later reporting tied the wallets to Iranian entities including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and in some accounts the Central Bank of Iran.

The mechanics matter because crypto is not frozen in the same way as a bank account. Instead, Washington can designate wallet addresses, pressure stablecoin issuers and warn exchanges and other platforms not to process the funds. Once a large issuer like Tether blacklists an address, the tokens sitting there can become stranded, unable to move through compliant rails or be readily redeemed in the normal market. That gives Treasury a new way to box in sanctioned actors without waiting for a correspondent bank or shipping company to trip over compliance controls.

The question is how much that constrains Iran. Chainalysis figures cited in later coverage put crypto holdings in Iran at about $7.8 billion in 2025, with the IRGC accounting for roughly half. That suggests Tehran and its networks may have meaningful digital reserves, even if the U.S. can now identify and isolate more of them. The freeze may not shut off every route for moving value across borders, but it raises the cost of using crypto as a sanctions work-around and signals that anonymity on blockchains is thinner than many users assume.

The crypto move also landed alongside a broader April 24 sanctions package aimed at Iran’s oil trade and shadow fleet, reinforcing that Washington is pressing on several fronts at once. Bessent described the campaign as a bid to choke off Iran’s “all financial lifelines,” and the latest action shows that those lifelines now run through wallets as well as wells, tankers and banks.