The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has officially designated Iran’s digital asset sector as sanctionable. This move, executed under Executive Order 13902, allows the US to target entire economic sectors rather than individual entities. The decision follows years of enforcement against Tehran’s use of Bitcoin and Tether to bypass international financial restrictions.
Data from Chainalysis indicates that Iran’s crypto ecosystem reached a volume exceeding $7,8 billion last year. Elliptic reports that the Central Bank of Iran acquired at least $507 million in USDT. Much of this volume passed through Nobitex, the nation’s largest exchange, before moving to cross-chain bridges. These assets serve as a reserve to support the rial, which has lost nearly 90% of its value.
Under Operation Economic Fury, the US has frozen or sanctioned approximately $1 billion in Iran-linked crypto assets since April. Tether blocked $344 million in April and an additional $131 million in July. Furthermore, OFAC sanctioned exchanges including Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex. These measures aim to disrupt the funding of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The US also launched Operation Economic Outcast, which sanctioned a Ukrainian broker for facilitating over $100 million in crypto-based oil payments for the IRGC’s Quds Force. Iran continues to utilize subsidized electricity for Bitcoin mining and collects tolls in cryptocurrency from ships traversing the Strait of Hormuz. The Treasury remains focused on severing these economic lifelines.
