The U.S. government has seized vast sums of cryptocurrency from entities linked to Iran’s military since the war broke out in February, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Speaking Friday at the 2026 Reagan National Economic Forum in Simi Valley, California, he said that some actors holding digital assets may not even know the funds are gone.
“I believe that we have seized about $1 billion of their crypto,” Bessent told Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow. “Just outright grabbed the wallets. Some of them may be typing in right now, and they might not have realized that their wallet had been grabbed.”
The statement reflects the U.S. government's sweeping crackdown on Iran’s government, which benefits from the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. Amid the conflict, the waterway—through which 20% of the world’s oil flows—has largely remained choked.
Bessent’s comments come as the U.S. and Iran reportedly inch closer to a deal that could alleviate tension threatening the global economy. Negotiators have reached an agreement that could prolong a fragile ceasefire, pending approval from President Donald Trump, per Axios.
Fars, a state-affiliated Iranian news agency, reported this month that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has promoted a Bitcoin-settled maritime insurance platform called Hormuz Safe.
In April, the Financial Times reported that Iran plans to require oil tankers passing through the strait to pay transit fees in Bitcoin. At the time, the outlet quoted an Iranian official who said the fees “can’t be traced or confiscated due to sanctions.”
On Friday, Bessent didn’t link the seizures to the reported scheme—nor did he say that the U.S. government’s actions involved the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
Meanwhile, scammers impersonating Iranian authorities have been targeting shipping companies with fraudulent payment demands in Bitcoin and Tether’s USDT stablecoin, Reuters reported in April. Last year, Israel's National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing alleged that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had received $1.5 billion in the stablecoin.
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