{"id":27136,"date":"2026-04-30T11:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/u-s-says-it-seized-nearly-500-million-in-iranian-crypto-assets\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T11:12:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:12:24","slug":"u-s-says-it-seized-nearly-500-million-in-iranian-crypto-assets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/u-s-says-it-seized-nearly-500-million-in-iranian-crypto-assets\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. says it seized nearly $500 million in Iranian crypto assets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p><strong>The U.S. has seized nearly $500 million in Iranian crypto assets, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_b98b3ddde54eacee4e5f8100a83a5d59\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said U.S. crypto seizures tied to Iran now approach $500 million.<\/li>\n<li>The figure is higher than the $344 million USDT freeze previously confirmed by Tether.<\/li>\n<li>The seizures form part of Operation Economic Fury, targeting Iran\u2019s banks, crypto assets, and oil networks.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>The figure is higher than the $344 million in USDT previously reported as frozen by Tether. Bessent <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/media\/bessent-says-us-seized-nearly-500m-iranian-crypto-operation-economic-fury-sends-regime-crisis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">said<\/a> the seizures are part of Operation Economic Fury. President Donald Trump ordered the campaign in March 2025 to increase financial pressure on Iran.<\/p>\n<p>The campaign targets crypto assets, bank accounts, overseas property, and other holdings linked to Iranian officials and networks.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Treasury expands Iran pressure campaign<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Bessent said, \u201cWe are freezing bank accounts everywhere. More importantly, we are making people less willing to deal with the regime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also said retirement funds and overseas real estate held by Iranian officials are being targeted. The Treasury has used sanctions and asset freezes to limit Iran\u2019s access to global finance.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, the nearly $500 million figure is above the $344 million in crypto assets reported earlier. Tether said it froze more than $344 million in USDT at the request of U.S. authorities.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Iran sanctions widen across sectors<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Bessent said Iran is facing a currency crisis. He said the country\u2019s currency has fallen 60% to 70% against the U.S. dollar.<\/p>\n<p>OFAC recently sanctioned 35 entities and individuals tied to Iran\u2019s shadow banking network. It also targeted a Chinese oil refinery and shipping firms linked to Iranian crude exports.<\/p>\n<p>Treasury has also sanctioned groups tied to Iran\u2019s missile and drone supply chain. Since February 2025, OFAC has sanctioned more than 1,000 Iran-related people, vessels, and aircraft under Operation Economic Fury.<\/p>\n<p>Reports also said Iran considered Bitcoin tolls for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has not publicly confirmed those claims.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. has seized nearly $500 million in Iranian crypto assets, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.\u00a0 Summary Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said U.S. crypto seizures tied to Iran now approach&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27136"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27137,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27136\/revisions\/27137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}