Crypto News
The United States has seized roughly $1 billion in Iranian cryptocurrency assets, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent disclosed at the Reagan National Economic Forum on Friday. Bessent said federal authorities “outright grabbed the wallets,” adding that some Iranian holders may still be unaware their funds have been confiscated. Forensic investigators reportedly traced flows from regime-linked cold wallets using public ledger analysis. The newly announced figure roughly doubles the $500 million in Iranian crypto the Treasury disclosed seizing in late April and significantly exceeds the $344 million reported earlier this month. The operation underscores Washington’s intent to weaponize on-chain transparency against adversarial regimes.
The seizures form part of Operation Economic Fury, a financial pressure campaign launched in March 2025 to choke off Tehran’s revenue streams. The initiative has paired wallet confiscations with frozen bank accounts and coordinated property seizures alongside European partners. Bessent claimed the regime had been siphoning $400 to $500 million each month before US intervention, with proceeds divided among roughly 80 senior leaders. He described Iran as financially “at the end of their tether,” signaling that the wallet grabs are meant as much for psychological impact as for asset recovery. Sanctions enforcement now leans heavily on chain analysis and exchange cooperation.
Inside Iran, the economic picture has deteriorated sharply. Bessent estimated inflation has likely surpassed 200%, with food vouchers in distribution and internet access curtailed. He claimed that between 40% and 50% of Iranian troops are not receiving pay, citing the fractured leadership that emerged after recent US and Israeli strikes on senior regime figures. Negotiations with Tehran are complicated by the absence of a coherent counterparty, the Treasury chief said. For crypto markets, the development reinforces a familiar pattern: state actors increasingly route value through digital assets, and adversaries increasingly target those rails. The blockchain trail rarely goes cold.
A separate strand of the Iran story involves Tehran’s reported plans to monetize control of the Strait of Hormuz through a Bitcoin-denominated insurance scheme. A state document referenced by an outlet tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps outlined a platform dubbed “Hormuz Safe,” which would sell digital marine insurance settled on-chain. The proposal envisions premiums paid in BTC and claims processed via smart contracts, effectively turning maritime risk into a sovereign crypto product. The plan signals that even under acute financial pressure, Tehran continues to view digital assets as a tool for sanctions circumvention and geopolitical leverage in a heavily contested chokepoint.
On the regulatory front, Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong publicly clashed with JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon over the CLARITY Act, the digital asset market structure bill now headed for the Senate floor. Armstrong responded to Dimon’s televised criticism with a hockey-themed meme casting the bank chief as “#2 for tradition” and himself as “#1 for economic freedom.” The image circulated rapidly across crypto social channels and drew swift endorsement from industry executives. The exchange transformed a procedural fight over stablecoin rewards and anti-money-laundering carve-outs into a public rallying moment for the digital asset sector.
Industry leaders quickly closed ranks behind the bill. Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz questioned the legitimacy of banks dictating financial legislation, noting that elected lawmakers — not lenders — write US law. Coin Center’s Peter Van Valkenburgh dismissed Dimon’s anti-money-laundering framing as misleading, pointing to roughly $3 trillion allegedly laundered through traditional banks in 2025. Critics also revived JPMorgan’s history of multi-billion-dollar regulatory settlements. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which would split spot-market jurisdiction and define rules for stablecoins and DeFi protocols, cleared the Senate Banking Committee 15-9 on May 14. It now needs 60 votes on the Senate floor before returning to the House.
The day’s news threads into a single arc: sovereign power and digital assets are colliding on multiple fronts. Washington is weaponizing on-chain transparency to drain a hostile regime of liquidity, while Tehran experiments with BTC-settled financial products to evade the same pressure. In parallel, the domestic policy fight pits Wall Street incumbents against crypto-native firms over who writes the rules for stablecoins and tokenized markets. Whether the dominant narrative is sanctions enforcement, geopolitical hedging, or regulatory capture, each story underscores the same trend — Bitcoin and the broader crypto stack are now embedded in statecraft.
Source: https://en.coinotag.com/us-seizes-1b-iranian-crypto-coinbase-jpmorgan-clarity-act-feud