{"id":34470,"date":"2026-07-15T05:34:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T05:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/us-freezes-131m-in-iran-linked-crypto-tied-to-central-bank\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T05:34:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T05:34:51","slug":"us-freezes-131m-in-iran-linked-crypto-tied-to-central-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/us-freezes-131m-in-iran-linked-crypto-tied-to-central-bank\/","title":{"rendered":"US freezes $131M in Iran-linked crypto tied to central bank"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">The United States has frozen more than $130 million in cryptocurrency held in wallets linked to the Central Bank of Iran, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. <\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_4d597041606654f6395fe08e1f3185a4\" 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>US authorities froze more than $130 million in crypto tied to Iran\u2019s central bank wallets.<\/li>\n<li>On-chain data showed four Tron wallets holding about $131 million in USDT were frozen Tuesday.<\/li>\n<li>The action follows April\u2019s $344 million USDT freeze and wider US pressure on Iranian crypto.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>The action adds to a broader U.S. campaign targeting Iran\u2019s use of digital assets and other financial channels.In a July 14 post on X, Bessent said the Treasury Department\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned multiple wallets tied to Iran\u2019s central bank. The sanctions resulted in more than $130 million being frozen.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/USTreasury?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@USTreasury<\/a> is committed to disrupting and degrading Iran\u2019s illicit financial activities, including its abuse of digital assets.\u00a0 Today, Treasury\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned multiple wallets tied to the Central Bank of Iran, resulting in the freeze of over $130\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SecScottBessent\/status\/2077162473921319055?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 14, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Four Tron wallets held about $131 million<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>On-chain investigator Specter identified four wallets on the Tron network holding a combined total of roughly $131 million in USDT. Reports based on the analysis said Tether had frozen the addresses, preventing the stablecoins from being transferred.<\/p>\n<p>Bessent did not identify the individual addresses in his statement. He said Treasury remained \u201ccommitted to disrupting and degrading Iran\u2019s illicit financial activities, including its abuse of digital assets.\u201d He added that authorities would continue to \u201cfollow the money\u201d and restrict access to funds that Washington links to Iranian government revenue networks.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Freeze follows earlier $344 million USDT action<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The latest move follows a much larger enforcement action in April.As previously reported, Tether froze about $344 million in USDT across two Tron wallets after U.S. authorities linked the addresses to Iranian networks. One wallet held about $213 million, while another contained roughly $131 million.<\/p>\n<p>Blockchain analysis at the time found transaction patterns associated with wallets linked to Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and intermediaries connected to the Central Bank of Iran. The funds were blocked through controls built into the USDT token rather than through changes to the Tron blockchain itself.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Treasury expands pressure on Iran\u2019s crypto networks<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The United States has increased its focus on Iran\u2019s digital asset infrastructure during 2026. In June, Treasury sanctioned four Iranian crypto exchanges, including Nobitex, which the department said handled more than half of Iranian digital asset inflows during 2025.<\/p>\n<p>As reported, Bessent also said in May that U.S. actions had seized or frozen nearly $1 billion in Iran-linked cryptocurrency. Earlier figures had placed the total near $500 million after the April USDT action.<\/p>\n<p>The Treasury has described the campaign as part of Operation Economic Fury, which targets crypto exchanges, wallets and traditional financial networks that U.S. officials accuse of supporting sanctions evasion and Iranian military financing. Treasury actions have also targeted overseas companies accused of helping move proceeds from Iranian oil sales through cryptocurrency and front companies.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Crypto freeze comes as US-Iran tensions rise<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The new wallet action comes during renewed military tensions between Washington and Tehran. U.S. Central Command confirmed fresh strikes against Iranian military targets and the resumption of a blockade of Iranian ports this week after a June pause in hostilities began to break down.<\/p>\n<p>The latest freeze also shows the enforcement role centralized stablecoins can play. Unlike Bitcoin, USDT contains issuer-level controls that can prevent sanctioned addresses from moving tokens. Tether has used those controls in several law enforcement actions, including the April Iran-linked freeze and a July action involving wallets sanctioned over alleged ISIS-K financing.<\/p>\n<p>For the latest $131 million action, Treasury has confirmed that the wallets were tied to the Central Bank of Iran and that the funds were frozen. Public statements have not disclosed how the assets were originally obtained or how authorities determined the intended use of the funds.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United States has frozen more than $130 million in cryptocurrency held in wallets linked to the Central Bank of Iran, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Summary US authorities&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34470","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\/34470","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=34470"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34471,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34470\/revisions\/34471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}