The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has frozen over $340 million in crypto assets allegedly tied to Iran, but new analysis from blockchain intelligence firm Nominis questions whether the wallets are directly linked to the Islamic Republic. The enforcement action is part of a broader campaign called Operation Epic Fury, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said has frozen nearly $500 million in Iranian-linked crypto assets.
Bessent posted on X on April 29 that Washington's sanctions campaign is now going after Iran's "access to crypto," alongside oil exports, shipping networks, and shadow banking channels. This marks the first time the Treasury has explicitly named digital assets in the context of the Iran pressure campaign, signaling that officials believe crypto is being used not just for small transfers but as part of actual trade settlement infrastructure.
Nominis CEO Snir Levi pointed to several inconsistencies when comparing the sanctioned wallets to historical IRGC-linked activity. Previous cases typically showed funds distributed across multiple wallets, relatively low balances per address, and short holding periods designed to reduce exposure to seizure risks. In contrast, the recently frozen wallets appear to hold larger balances for longer periods and do not follow the same fragmentation strategies commonly associated with Iranian-linked networks.
"The behavioral divergence observed in this case raises a critical question: To what extent does the frozen $340 million reflect direct IRGC control, versus infrastructure that overlaps with broader, potentially foreign, financial networks," Levi said.
The findings suggest traditional methods of identifying illicit crypto activity may be losing effectiveness as state and non-state actors adjust their behavior. Levi noted that compliance teams can no longer rely solely on static typologies when assessing risk, and that even well-documented actors such as the IRGC and potentially Chinese state-actors are continuing to evolve their use of blockchain infrastructure.
The wallet seizures are part of a wider US campaign targeting Iran's financial networks. According to market analyst Shanaka Anslem Perera, the latest action designated 35 entities and individuals under two existing executive orders, including UK-registered Shuqun Ltd, which allegedly transferred more than $70 million for Iranian crude on behalf of the National Iranian Oil Company through 2024, and Fratello Carbone Trading Limited, which reportedly moved more than $20 million. The total number of Iran-related targets under Economic Fury has now passed one thousand since February 25.
Stablecoin issuer Tether confirmed that it had frozen more than $344 million in USDT at the request of US authorities. Beyond crypto, the campaign has targeted overseas assets and financial holdings linked to Iranian officials. US officials say the measures are contributing to broader economic strain, including currency depreciation and banking instability.
This is not the first time crypto and Iran have collided in the markets this month. The Financial Times reported on April 8 that Iranian officials were demanding Bitcoin payments for ships seeking passage through the Strait of Hormuz. When those reports emerged, BTC ran from around $68,000 to nearly $73,000. Since then, Iran submitted a new peace proposal through Pakistani mediators on April 27, which sent Bitcoin briefly to a 12-week high near $80,000 before it got rejected and fell back hard. Yesterday, Trump posted on Truth Social that Iran had entered a "state of collapse," pushing oil past $100 a barrel and pulling BTC below $76,000.
These price moves show how closely crypto now trades with geopolitical risk, energy supply concerns, and sanctions policy. If Washington can disrupt crypto-linked settlement channels tied to Iranian trade, it may reduce one workaround for sanctions. But if alternative rails keep operating, the campaign may simply push more transactions away from the dollar system and into the yuan or digital assets.
