The United States has seized about $1 billion in Iranian crypto assets, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday, adding that some wallet owners may not yet know the funds are gone.
“I believe we seized about a billion dollars worth of their cryptocurrencies,” Bessent he said during a speech at the National Economic Forum. Reagan. “We just grabbed their wallets right away. Some of them were now able to write and didn’t realize that someone had taken their wallet,” he added.
Bessent said the seizures are part of a U.S. financial pressure campaign against Iran known as Operation Economic Fury. Launched in March 2025, the operation targeted Iranian assets on multiple fronts, seizing cryptocurrencies, freezing bank accounts and working with European allies to confiscate properties.
Scott Bessent at the Reagan National Economic Forum. Source: YouTube
“I think it’s going to take five and a half to six weeks of the incredibly successful military campaign and Operation Economic Fury, where we really cut them off. Financially, they’re at the end of their rope now,” he said.
Related: Cryptocurrency markets lost $80 billion after fresh US attacks on Iran
Iran’s financial situation is dire
The Treasury secretary said that before the U.S. intervened, the regime was siphoning off $400 million to $500 million a month and splitting the proceeds among about 80 leaders. He said inflation in Iran has likely exceeded 200%, food stamps are being handed out, the internet has been shut down and 40-50% of Iran’s soldiers are not being paid.
Bessent also addressed ongoing negotiations with Iran, noting the complexity of dealing with a fractured leadership structure in the wake of U.S. and Israeli attacks on senior regime figures.
The newly disclosed $1 billion figure is roughly double the $500 million in Iranian cryptocurrency assets that the Treasury Department announced it had seized in delayed April, and significantly more than the $344 million in cryptocurrencies frozen after the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on Iran-linked wallets on April 24.
Related: Bitcoin rebounds as Trump prepares to announce a “negotiated” deal with Iran
Iran is eyeing a Bitcoin-based insurance program for Hormuz
As Cointelegraph reports, Iran is considering a plan to monetize control of the Strait of Hormuz through a Bitcoin-based insurance model. A state document cited by Fars News Agency, an outlet with close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, describes a platform called “Hormuz Safe” that will sell digital marine insurance paid for in Bitcoin and settled on the blockchain, potentially generating more than $10 billion in revenue for the country.
In early April, a spokesman for Iran’s Association of Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Exporters said some ships would be allowed to pass through the strait provided they pay a tariff of $1 per barrel of oil in Bitcoin.
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