US Freezes $344 Million in USDT, Citing Ties to Iran Regime

In its latest move to disrupt Iranian financial networks, the US Treasury Department has frozen $344 million in cryptocurrency, as part of a broader initiative known as 'Economic Fury'. According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned several crypto wallets linked to Iran, resulting in the freeze of $344 million in cryptocurrency. Bessent stated that the US will track and target all financial channels tied to the Iranian regime, as part of a comprehensive campaign to restrict the regime's access to funds. The move follows Tether's decision to blacklist two blockchain addresses on Tron, holding a combined total of $344 million in USDT. A US official revealed that the sanctioned wallets had significant connections to the Iranian regime, including transactions with Iranian exchanges and links to wallets associated with the Central Bank of Iran. The Iranian government has been increasingly relying on digital assets to conceal its cross-border transactions, using complex patterns to obscure its involvement in payments and trade flows under sanctions pressure. The US Treasury's OFAC is taking aggressive action against both traditional front companies and the use of digital assets, while also working with blockchain analytics firms and coordinating with financial institutions to track illicit flows tied to sanctioned entities.