Summary
- On Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent disclosed that the U.S. has confiscated approximately $1 billion in cryptocurrency from Iranian entities.
- The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran has reportedly adopted Bitcoin for various financial transactions.
- Israeli officials claimed last year that Iranian-linked actors have utilized Tether’s USDT stablecoin for transferring funds.
According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the U.S. government has taken significant amounts of cryptocurrency from organizations affiliated with Iran's military since the onset of the conflict in February.
During his address at the 2026 Reagan National Economic Forum in Simi Valley, California, Bessent noted that some individuals holding these digital assets might be unaware that their funds have been seized.
“I believe that we have seized about $1 billion of their crypto,” Bessent stated in an interview with Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow. “We just outright grabbed the wallets. Some of them may be typing in right now, and they might not have realized that their wallet had been grabbed.”
This announcement underscores the U.S. government's extensive efforts to clamp down on Iran’s regime, which has been benefiting from oil transportation through the Strait of Hormuz. This strategic waterway, responsible for 20% of global oil transit, has faced significant congestion amid ongoing hostilities.
Bessent’s remarks arrive as reports indicate that the U.S. and Iran may be nearing an agreement that could ease economic tensions. Negotiators have come to a preliminary deal that could extend a delicate ceasefire, pending President Donald Trump's endorsement, according to Axios.
According to Fars, a state-run Iranian news outlet, it was reported earlier this month that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is backing a Bitcoin-based maritime insurance initiative named Hormuz Safe.
In April, the Financial Times indicated that Iran intends to mandate oil tankers traversing the strait to pay transit fees in Bitcoin, citing an Iranian official who mentioned that such fees “can’t be traced or confiscated due to sanctions.”
On Friday, Bessent did not connect the cryptocurrency seizures to the aforementioned payment scheme, nor did he clarify whether the U.S. government’s actions involved the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
Additionally, it was reported by Reuters in April that scammers impersonating Iranian officials have been targeting shipping companies with fake payment requests in Bitcoin and Tether’s USDT stablecoin. Previously, Israel's National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing alleged that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had received $1.5 billion in the stablecoin.