US Freezes $344 Million in USDT, Citing 'Economic Fury' Against Iranian Regime

The US Treasury Department announced on Friday that it has frozen $344 million in cryptocurrency as part of a broader effort to disrupt financial networks linked to Iran. In a recent post, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on several cryptocurrency wallets connected to Iran, resulting in the freeze of $344 million in cryptocurrency. Bessent noted that the US will track and target all financial channels tied to the Iranian regime as part of its 'Economic Fury' campaign. This move follows Tether's decision to blacklist two blockchain addresses on the Tron network, which held a combined total of $344 million in USDT. According to a US official, the sanctioned wallets had significant ties to the Iranian regime, including transactions with Iranian exchanges and connections to wallets associated with the Central Bank of Iran. The Treasury Department has stated that Iran's central bank has been attempting to use digital assets to conceal its cross-border transactions. Authorities have observed that Iran has been increasingly relying on cryptocurrency to circumvent restrictions, using complex transaction patterns to obscure its involvement in cross-border payments and support trade flows under sanctions pressure. The Treasury's OFAC is taking aggressive action against both traditional front companies and the use of digital assets. In a related move, the US sanctioned Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co., accusing the China-based refineries of playing a significant role in Iran's oil economy. The US agency is working with blockchain analytics firms and coordinating with financial institutions, including crypto exchanges, to track illicit flows tied to sanctioned entities.