U.S. Treasury Secretary Besant stated that the U.S. might seize approximately $1 billion in cryptocurrency linked to Iran this week, further cutting off Iran's channels for accessing and transferring funds. From previously disclosed cases, some of these crypto assets originate from oil revenues. Due to financial sanctions, Iran faces restrictions on receiving payments and making cross-border transfers after selling oil. As a workaround, intermediaries convert the proceeds into cryptocurrency and transfer them to relevant institutions for fund allocation and external payments. A case announced by the U.S. Department of Justice in September involved this type of operation. Prosecutors alleged that a network transferred over $1.5 billion in Iranian oil sales revenue through exchange accounts and multiple wallets, and sought to confiscate approximately $61 million in crypto assets. These allegations are still under investigation. Another portion of the funds was directly purchased with foreign currency. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic discovered that wallets linked to Iran's central bank had accumulated at least $507 million in USDT purchases, with two transactions paid for using UAE dirhams. According to Elliptic's analysis, these USDT tokens may have been used for cross-border trade settlements or converted into rials in the local market to help stabilize Iran's exchange rate. However, USDT has an issuer freeze mechanism. Even if the funds are stored in private wallets, they can still be blacklisted and rendered untransferable. Tether stated in September that it had assisted in freezing approximately $550 million in USDT linked to Iran this year. One @Gate, trading across more markets.