US Treasury Freezes $344 Million in Crypto Linked to Iran's IRGC

The US Treasury has taken a significant step in its efforts to disrupt Iran's financial activities, freezing $344 million in cryptocurrency linked to the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). This move is part of Operation Economic Fury, a campaign aimed at systematically cutting off Tehran's financial lifelines during the ongoing conflict.

The freeze was executed by Tether, a leading stablecoin issuer, at the direction of American authorities. Two Tron blockchain addresses were targeted in the operation, with one holding approximately $213 million and the other holding $131 million in USDT. The wallets' transaction patterns were found to be consistent with those observed in known IRGC wallets.

Chainalysis, a leading cryptocurrency analytics firm, worked closely with the Treasury Department to identify the IRGC-linked wallets. The analysis revealed frequent large transfers of tens of millions of dollars between private wallets, which is characteristic of how the IRGC moves funds on-chain. The freeze also follows January's OFAC designations of two UK-registered crypto exchanges for processing IRGC transactions.