At a glance

  • Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday, 8 Oct, that the US will “probably” seize $1 billion of crypto tied to Iran this week, according to The Block and Altcoin Buzz.
  • He did not identify the assets or say whether they add to earlier seizures. As of about 20:00 UTC on 9 Oct, Treasury’s press-release page listed no such action.

Bessent made the remark in an interview with Greta Van Susteren at Newsmax’s NPolicy Summit in Washington on Thursday, The Block reported. “We’re probably gonna seize a billion dollars of crypto this week,” he said. “We know where it is and we are isolating them.”

He described the administration’s approach to Iran as an “absolute isolation campaign” that has replaced “maximum pressure”, according to The Block. Altcoin Buzz reported that he named no token, wallet address, exchange or legal mechanism. We have not seen a recording or transcript of the interview.

A seizure of crypto normally needs a legal route: a civil or criminal forfeiture complaint, or a warrant, filed by the Justice Department, or a freeze by the issuer or exchange holding the assets. An OFAC designation blocks assets but is not a seizure. Any of those would appear in a Treasury release or a court filing.

What came before

A recent crypto-specific Iran action came on 17 Sep, when OFAC designated BitBank, an Iranian exchange it said is controlled by financier Babak Zanjani, with its developer and three associates. Treasury said Zanjani used the network to move hundreds of millions of dollars of bitcoin to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The release describes the action as part of Operation Economic Outcast, which Bessent announced on 24 Aug.

The Block adds that Bessent said in May that the US had seized about $1 billion of Iranian crypto, while a Treasury release soon afterwards cited a figure near $500 million, and that Treasury announced wallet sanctions in July that led to about $130 million being frozen. Earlier CryptoWatchDesk coverage covers Tether’s role in Iran’s dollar market and Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s letter to Cantor Fitzgerald about Tether.

What happens next

The claim becomes a recorded action only if Treasury, the Justice Department or a court publishes something naming the assets. No date has been given. Bessent’s “this week” ends on Friday, so a Treasury press release or a forfeiture complaint on the court docket over the weekend or early next week would be the first confirmation.

This article is for information only and is not investment advice.