U.S. Sanctions Four Iran-Linked Crypto Wallets, Tether Freezes $131 Million
Quick Reads:
- U.S. Treasury adds four Iran central bank crypto wallets to its sanctions list
- Tether freezes $131 million in USDT tied to the wallets
- Wallets had received over $165 million before some funds moved
- Total USDT blocked from Iran’s central bank now stands near $475 million
The U.S. Treasury has widened its net on Iran’s financial lifelines in crypto, adding four new Iran central bank crypto wallets to its sanctions list after a fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran collapsed and airstrikes resumed. In response, stablecoin issuer Tether moved swiftly to freeze $131 million worth of USDT tied to the newly designated addresses.
According to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, the four wallets, all built on the TRON blockchain, had collectively received more than $165 million in stablecoins before the freeze took effect. Some of the funds had already been moved out by the time Tether acted, which is why the frozen amount landed below the total inflows.
By publishing the addresses, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has effectively handed exchanges, custodians, and compliance teams a fresh checklist of wallets to screen and block. Iran’s central bank has been accumulating stablecoins for some time, reportedly holding at least $507 million in USDT as of earlier this year, according to Elliptic, using the token to prop up the struggling rial.
OFAC has cautioned that its published wallet lists aren’t exhaustive, meaning more addresses tied to the bank could still count as blocked property even without being named outright. Tuesday’s OFAC update builds on an existing designation rather than introducing new sanctions authority, the Central Bank of Iran has been under U.S. counterterrorism sanctions since 2019 for allegedly supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and Hezbollah.
This latest freeze isn’t happening in isolation. It follows June’s sanctions on Nobitex and other Iranian exchanges accused of helping the central bank shuffle funds in and out of stablecoins. And it’s not Tether’s first move against these funds either, back in April, the company froze $344 million in USDT connected to the same institution. Combined with this week’s action, roughly $475 million in USDT tied to Iran’s central bank has now been locked down.
Chainalysis noted that the four sanctioned addresses received funds from an institutional liquidity provider and an Asia-based payment processor, suggesting the network moving these tokens stretched well beyond Iran’s borders. Importantly, the frozen tokens haven’t disappeared, they’re still visible onchain, but the wallets can no longer transfer or redeem them. Tether’s action counts as a freeze rather than a full seizure, meaning the funds technically remain under the control of Iran’s central bank, just unusable for now.
