The sanctions come four days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US had seized nearly $1 billion in crypto from Iranian crypto exchanges and wallets since late February. The US Treasury has sanctioned four Iranian crypto exchanges, including the country’s largest, Nobitex, marking the latest effort in its campaign called “Economic Fury” that aims to cut Iran off from the financial system. The Treasury said on Tuesday that it added crypto exchanges Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex to the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s sanction list, prohibiting US businesses and persons from providing services to those platforms. “While Iran’s economy is in free fall, the regime has chosen to co-opt digital asset technologies for its own corrupt agenda, including evading sanctions and transferring wealth out of the country,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Read more
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US has seized roughly $1 billion in Iranian crypto assets, double the figure disclosed in late April. The United States has seized roughly $1 billion in Iranian crypto assets, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday, adding that some of the wallet owners may not yet know the funds are gone. “I believe that we have seized about a billion dollars of their crypto,” Bessent said while speaking at the Reagan National Economic Forum. “Just outright grabbed the wallets. Some of them may be typing in right now and not have realized that their wallet had been grabbed,” he added. Bessent said the seizures are part of the US financial pressure campaign against Iran, known as Operation Economic Fury. Launched in March 2025, the operation has targeted Iranian assets across multiple fronts, seizing cryptocurrency, freezing bank accounts and working with European allies to confiscate properties. Read more
US Treasury officials reportedly sent a letter to Binance pressing the crypto exchange on compliance with a 2023 deal, after reports circulated that the company had facilitated transactions linked to Iran. Update (May 7 at 9:47 PM UTC): This article has been updated to include a statement from Binance. The US Department of the Treasury reportedly demanded that Binance follow a monitoring program put in place by a 2023 deal between authorities and the cryptocurrency exchange, following reports that the company facilitated $1 billion to entities tied to Iran. According to a Thursday report by The Information, the Treasury Department “privately demanded” that Binance be in compliance with a monitoring program to which it had agreed after reaching a deal with US authorities in 2023. The deal, which included a $4.3 billion settlement with Treasury and the US Department of Justice, required Binance to comply with a three-year monitoring program overseen by government officials. Read more
The top stablecoin issuer’s balance sheet remains heavily concentrated in US Treasuries as stablecoin adoption expands across emerging markets. Stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT) reported $1.04 billion in net profit for the first quarter of 2026, as its excess reserves rose to a record $8.23 billion, according to its latest attestation on Friday. The company said its reserves remain heavily concentrated in US Treasuries, with around $141 billion in direct and indirect exposure, while total assets of about $191.8 billion exceeded liabilities of approximately $183.5 billion as of March 31. Tether said this level of exposure makes it the 17th largest holder of US Treasuries globally. Beyond Treasuries, reserves included about $20 billion in physical gold and $7 billion in Bitcoin (BTC). Read more
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US has seized nearly $500 million in Iranian crypto assets, surpassing the previously reported $344 million freeze. The United States has seized nearly $500 million in Iranian cryptocurrency assets as part of a sweeping economic pressure campaign against Tehran, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday. Bessent made the comments during an appearance on Fox Business’s “Kudlow,” where he outlined the scope of Operation Economic Fury, a campaign ordered by President Donald Trump in March 2025 aimed at cutting off Iran’s financial lifelines through asset seizures, bank account freezes and secondary sanctions on countries that continue to buy Iranian oil. “We are freezing bank accounts everywhere. More importantly, we are making people less willing to deal with the regime,” Bessent said, adding that retirement funds and overseas real estate held by Iranian officials are also being targeted. Read more
Businesses can now allocate idle cash to a government-backed fund via Stable Sea, as tokenized Treasury products gain traction in corporate finance. Treasury management startup Stable Sea has integrated WisdomTree’s tokenized US Treasury money market fund into its platform, in a move aimed at helping businesses generate yield on idle cash. On Wednesday, Stable Sea said the WisdomTree Government Money Market Digital Fund (WTGXX) is now available on its platform, allowing corporate clients to allocate excess cash to a government-backed fund rather than leaving it in low-yield bank accounts. Stable Sea provides software that automatically reallocates — or “sweeps” — corporate cash balances into yield-bearing instruments. By integrating WTGXX, the company is extending that functionality to a tokenized fund that settles on blockchain infrastructure. Read more
The Treasury Department said the move reflects increases in frequency and sophistication of actions targeting digital asset platforms. The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection (OCCIP) announced on Thursday that it is expanding its cybersecurity threat identification program to include digital asset companies. Blockchain companies that choose to take part in the program will receive the same cybersecurity threat intelligence provided to traditional financial institutions at “no cost,” according to the Treasury’s announcement. “Cyber threats targeting digital asset platforms are growing in frequency and sophistication,” Cory Wilson, the deputy assistant secretary for cybersecurity at the OCCIP, said. Read more