The US Department of State has announced a $15 million reward for information regarding the financial operations of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Qods Force. The initiative, part of the Rewards for Justice program, seeks intelligence on funding channels, including cryptocurrency accounts, front companies, and a shadow fleet of oil tankers.
Simultaneously, the US Treasury has imposed sanctions on the Amin Exchange and 19 vessels involved in the transport of Iranian oil and petrochemicals. These measures are part of the Economic Fury campaign, which aims to disrupt revenue streams used by Tehran to fund proxy groups. The IRGC has been classified as a Foreign Terrorist Organization since 2019.
The Rewards for Justice program has distributed over $250 million since 1984 for information related to terrorism. Previous efforts targeted entities such as the drone manufacturer KIPAS. The current bounty underscores the government's focus on digital assets, as officials explicitly identify crypto infrastructure as a key tool for moving funds.
The move highlights the intersection of blockchain forensics and human intelligence. While firms like Chainalysis and Elliptic track on-chain activity, the government is now incentivizing insiders to link pseudonymous wallet addresses to real-world identities and operational cells, increasing pressure on crypto exchanges to enforce compliance.
