US Freezes $344 Million in Tether's USDT, Citing Iranian Regime Ties

In its latest move to disrupt Iran's financial networks, the US Treasury Department has frozen $344 million in cryptocurrency, citing links to the Iranian regime. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning multiple crypto wallets tied to Iran, resulting in the freeze of $344 million in cryptocurrency. The action is part of a broader campaign, dubbed 'Economic Fury', aimed at targeting all financial lifelines tied to the regime. This move follows Tether's decision to blacklist two blockchain addresses on Tron, holding a combined $344 million in USDT. According to a US official, the sanctioned wallets showed significant links to the Iranian regime, including transactions with Iranian exchanges and connections to wallets associated with the Central Bank of Iran. The Iranian central bank has been using digital assets to conceal its cross-border transactions, and authorities claim that Iran has increasingly turned to crypto to bypass restrictions, using complex transaction patterns to obscure its involvement in cross-border payments and support trade flows under sanctions pressure. The Treasury Department's OFAC is intensifying its efforts against both traditional front companies and the use of digital assets, with the official stating that the agency is working with blockchain analytics firms and coordinating with financial institutions, including crypto exchanges, to track illicit flows tied to sanctioned entities.