In short
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday that the US has seized nearly $1 billion in cryptocurrencies from Iran.
- Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it accepts Bitcoin, from marine insurance to shipping fees.
- Players linked to Iran have used Tether’s USDT stablecoin to move money, Israeli officials said last year.
The US government has seized large amounts of cryptocurrency from organizations affiliated with the Iranian military since the war began in February, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Speaking Friday at the 2026 Reagan National Economic Forum in Simi Valley, California, he he said that some players with digital assets may not even know that the money is gone.
“I believe we have captured about $1 billion of their crypto,” Bessent said Fox Business Networkand Larry Kudlow. He just took the bags. Some may be writing right now, and may not have noticed that their account has been confiscated.
The statement reflects the actions of the US government against the government of Iran, which benefits from the movement of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. In the middle of the war, the waterway – through which 20 percent of the world’s oil flows – has been choked.
Bessent’s comments come as the U.S. and Iran are said to be nearing a deal that could ease tensions that threaten the global economy. Negotiators have reached an agreement that would extend the long-term ceasefire, pending President Donald Trump’s approval. Axios.
FarsIran’s state-run news agency, report this month that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has promoted a Bitcoin-based offshore insurance platform called Hormuz Safe.
In April, Mr Financial Times he also said that Iran plans looking for oil tankers passing through the strait to pay for transportation in Bitcoin. At the time, the site quoted an Iranian official as saying the money “cannot be confiscated or confiscated due to sanctions.”
On Friday, Bessent did not agree to the seizure of the conspiracy report-or did not say that the actions of the US government are involved in the largest cryptocurrency and market capitalization.
Meanwhile, hackers posing as Iranian officials have been direct remittance companies that want to make fraudulent payments in Bitcoin and Tether’s USDT stablecoin, Reuters was reported in April. Last year, Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing he says that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran has received $1.5 billion in stablecoins.
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