U.S. Seizes $1 Billion in Cryptocurrency from Iran! Treasury Secretary: These funds are stolen by the Iranian government from its people

The United States has intensified financial sanctions against Iran, seizing about $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency and adding the confiscated assets to its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, heating up the digital payments front.

The United States has again escalated its crackdown on Iran’s financial sanctions, delivering a precise blow to digital money channels. The latest reports indicate that the U.S. government has successfully seized about $1 billion in cryptocurrency from Iran—almost twice as much as the U.S. had previously estimated.

At the “2026 Reagan National Economic Forum” last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the U.S. assesses Iran has been using methods to evade sanctions over the long term, siphoning roughly $400 million to $500 million in funds every month. He said: “Every cent of this money is stolen from the Iranian people.”

During an interview with Fox News’ well-known business host Larry Kudlow, Bessent said:

We’ve probably confiscated nearly $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency. We are directly “forcibly seizing” these wallets. Who knows—right now, some Iranians might be tapping on their keyboards, trying to log in, unaware that their wallets were seized by us long ago.

Looking back at April 29 of this year, the amount of Iranian cryptocurrency confiscated that Bessent announced publicly at the time was “nearly $500 million.” He said then: “We are casting our net worldwide and freezing their bank accounts everywhere; more importantly, we want to ensure that the outside world no longer wants to do business with the Iranian regime.”

On the other hand, regarding the U.S. “Bitcoin Strategic Reserve,” which has attracted intense attention in the crypto community, Bessent said last August that the U.S. government would not use taxpayers’ budgets to buy Bitcoin in the open market. Instead, it would replenish the reserve size through confiscation and the seizure of criminal assets. This January, he reaffirmed:

The policy direction of this administration is very clear. After completing the relevant damage compensation procedures, all of these seized Bitcoins will be fully added to the United States’ digital asset reserves. As for the Bitcoin reserve, we believe the top priority task is to “stop selling”—and we have already done that. Next, we can add these confiscated crypto assets to the reserve.

According to data tracking by blockchain intelligence platform Arkham Intelligence, the U.S. government currently holds as many as 328,372 Bitcoins, worth more than $24 billion, firmly maintaining its position as the world’s largest national-level “whale.”

• This article is reproduced with permission from: 《Block Beast》
• Original title: 《Cutting off the flow of funds! U.S. Treasury Secretary confirms: Nearly $1 billion in cryptocurrency seized from Iran》
• Original author: Block Sister Mel