U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that American authorities plan to seize $1 billion in cryptocurrency assets linked to Iran this week. The statement was made during the Newsmax NPolicy Summit held in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.
Bessent noted that the administration is implementing an absolute isolation campaign against Iran, which includes targeting crypto wallets associated with the regime. This effort follows a national security memorandum signed in February 2025 that directs the Treasury to combat Iranian shadow banking and sanctions evasion.
While the specific assets were not disclosed, the Treasury has previously seized Iranian crypto holdings in the form of the stablecoin USDT. Experts note that while centralized assets like stablecoins can be frozen, decentralized assets such as bitcoin are resistant to such actions unless held on centralized exchanges.
Iran has increasingly utilized bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to bypass U.S. sanctions. Earlier this year, the country launched a bitcoin-backed insurance service for its shipping companies and began using bitcoin to settle cross-border transactions through local exchanges.
