The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) froze more than $130 million in cryptocurrency linked to Iran’s central bank, marking a major escalation in Washington’s use of digital-asset enforcement. The action, confirmed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, targeted multiple digital wallets containing approximately 131 million USDT on the Tron network, underscoring the role of dollar-pegged stablecoins in both sanctions evasion and enforcement.
Concurrently, OFAC revoked Iran General License X, which had previously permitted certain transactions involving Iranian-origin crude oil and petrochemical products, and replaced it with General License X1. The new license allows only a 10-day wind-down period — until July 17 — for the orderly closure of existing positions tied to blocked persons or vessels. After that date, all transactions with covered parties will fall outside the wind-down permission, and violators could face sanctions.
Treasury Secretary Bessent stated, “Treasury is committed to disrupting and degrading Iran’s illicit financial activities, including its abuse of digital assets.” He added that OFAC sanctioned wallets tied to the Central Bank of Iran, resulting in the freeze of over $130 million. The move follows earlier actions, such as the June sanctioning of four Iran-based crypto exchanges — Nobitex, Bitpin, Ramzinex, and Wallex — and warnings to foreign financial institutions about facilitating transactions with those platforms.
The freeze is significant because it directly targets assets associated with Iran’s central bank, treating stablecoin rails as an extension of the country’s financial system. USDT, widely used for cross-border settlement, is particularly attractive to sanctioned actors due to its deep liquidity and transferability across networks like Tron and Ethereum. Centralized issuers such as Tether can blacklist addresses, giving regulators a powerful tool. In this case, the freeze was executed on the Tron network, highlighting the increasing ability of U.S. authorities to immobilize stablecoins at the blockchain level.
Compliance pressure is now rising for crypto exchanges, OTC desks, and stablecoin issuers. OFAC’s guidance makes clear that foreign financial institutions and other non-U.S. persons risk sanctions exposure if they materially support designated Iranian crypto entities. Platforms must screen not only direct wallet addresses but also clusters linked to sanctioned exchanges and state-linked networks. While the market impact of the $130 million freeze is limited — given USDT’s massive supply — the geo-regulatory signal is profound: stablecoins are now firmly embedded in the global sanctions toolkit.
