Crypto13 May, 20262 min read
U.S. Freezes $340 Million in USDT Linked to Iran’s Central Bank Under Trump
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Approximately $340–344 million in Iran central bank–linked crypto frozen. Funds held in TRC-20 wallets across platforms; Tether froze them.
US freezes USDT linked to Iran
The U.S. government froze more than $340 million linked to Iran’s central bank in the form of cryptocurrencies housed in wallets across several platforms, according to a CNN report cited by الجزيرة نت.
The freeze was approved by the American government under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, and the article frames it as halting funds despite the claim that crypto is beyond government control.
The mechanism described centers on USDT, a stablecoin tied to the value of the traditional U.S. dollar and issued by the U.S. company Tether, which is subject to U.S. laws and “falls under the direct influence of the Trump administration.”
Arkham mapping is described alongside the freeze, with TRC-20 wallets tied to Iran and a Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent quote describing the effort as “systematically degrade Tehran’s ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds.”
Why USDT enabled leverage
The article says the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bisent relied on differences among cryptocurrencies and targeted Iranian wallets holding USDT.
It explains that because USDT is issued by Tether and the wallets hold USDT that the company owns, the U.S. government could request that the wallets be stopped and their contents seized by the company.
Cointelegraph adds that Tether separately said it had frozen the funds at the request of US authorities over “activity tied to unlawful conduct,” without explicitly naming Iran in its public statement.
The same Cointelegraph piece also ties the mapping to a broader push by blockchain analytics firms and stablecoin issuers to expose and disrupt sanctions evasion networks using crypto infrastructure tied to Tron and Tether.
Broader sanctions-evasion and analytics
Cointelegraph reports that in an April 27 note, Chainalysis described a multi-step stablecoin “pipeline” in which Iranian oil revenues were routed through brokers, intermediary wallets, cross-chain bridges and decentralized finance protocols before cycling back into accounts associated with the Central Bank of Iran and IRGC-linked entities. The same article places the freeze within a backdrop of growing Iranian crypto use, citing estimates that Iran’s overall crypto transaction volume was about $11.4 billion in 2024 and $10 billion in 2025.
It also notes that in April, Iran reportedly considered charging crypto-denominated tolls to ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, positioning digital assets as an additional revenue channel outside traditional banking rails. In the background of these developments, the article says the Arkham findings reflect a broader push by blockchain analytics firms and stablecoin issuers to expose and disrupt sanctions evasion networks increasingly using crypto infrastructure tied to Tron and Tether.