Bessent Targets Seizure of $1 Billion in Iranian Crypto Without Announcing a Freeze
Key Facts
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on October 9 that the United States would “likely” seize $1 billion in cryptocurrency linked to Iran that week, referring to a potential seizure target rather than a completed freeze. It was unclear whether the targeted amount would be in addition to seizures announced previously. The statement came as part of Washington’s campaign to disrupt Iranian financing channels through digital assets. In June, the Treasury said its actions had led to the freezing of nearly half a billion dollars in cryptocurrency linked to the Iranian regime. The $1 billion target therefore remains separate from the value of assets the department said it had previously frozen.
In a separate action, the Treasury Department announced on September 17 that it had added Iranian platform BitBank, its developer and three associates of Iranian financier Babak Zanjani to its sanctions list. The department said Zanjani used the platform to facilitate the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin to the Revolutionary Guard between June and July. It also described the designations as targeting parties in a network for evading sanctions linked to Iranian digital assets. The move ties the U.S. campaign to platforms and individuals Washington said enable transfers, alongside its targeting of the assets themselves. Bessent’s statement did not specify which wallets were covered by the $1 billion target or how it related to the BitBank action.
In August, the Treasury broadened the range of Iranian sectors that could face secondary sanctions under an operation it called Economic Outcast. The designations covered five sectors: digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping. In June, the department said the platform Nobitex processed more than 50% of Iranian digital-asset flows in 2025 and provided significant support to the Iranian regime. The measures show that the U.S. campaign extends across multiple platforms and sectors, rather than involving a single seizure announcement for a specified amount. In September, the Justice Department filed a civil forfeiture action involving about $61 million in cryptocurrency, which it said represented proceeds from illicit Iranian oil sales and was intended to fund the government and military entities, including the Revolutionary Guard.
The Justice Department said addresses linked to Iranian oil sales received and distributed more than about $1.5 billion in proceeds through intermediaries and companies to entities linked to the Revolutionary Guard. The action seeks forfeiture of about $61 million of that cryptocurrency, not the full amount the department said the addresses had handled. The department said the allegations in the complaint remain claims unless a court rules in favor of the United States. In a separate case involving the transfer of funds to Iran, including cryptocurrency, the Justice Department set October 29 as the sentencing date. This legal track is proceeding alongside financial sanctions targeting the platforms and parties connected to them.
In U.S. economic data released on October 27, durable-goods orders rose 1.8% in September to $345.4 billion, after a 0.1% increase in August. Orders excluding transportation equipment rose 0.5%, while those excluding defense increased 2.2%. Transportation equipment led the rise, with orders climbing 4.6% to $119.8 billion. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index rose 7.5 points to 91.7 in October, compared with 84.2 in September. The present situation index increased 8.6 points to 120.4, while the expectations index rose 6.9 points to 72.6.
The Conference Board’s chief economist attributed the improvement in confidence mainly to better consumer assessments of current and expected business conditions. The economist said the recovery coincided with falling gasoline prices between September and October. The Federal Open Market Committee meets on October 27 and 28, with the Federal Reserve scheduled to hold a news conference on October 28. Minutes of the October meeting are due to be released on November 18. The full report on manufacturers’ orders, shipments and inventories for September is also scheduled for release on November 3, after the advance estimate was issued on October 27.