Bessent Says U.S. Will Probably Seize $1 Billion in Iran-Linked Crypto This Week

Published October 10, 2026, 09:10 PKT. Bessent's remarks via the Newsmax Policy Summit interview with Greta Van Susteren, reported by The Block and Cointelegraph; sanctions context via U.S. Treasury announcements and TradingView's news desk.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States will "probably" seize about $1 billion in cryptocurrency tied to Iran this week, telling Greta Van Susteren at Newsmax's Policy Summit in Washington on Thursday that federal authorities already know where the assets sit. "We know where it is and we are isolating them," Bessent said. He described the planned seizure as part of an "absolute isolation campaign" against Tehran that also covers Strait of Hormuz blockades, restrictions on international flights and efforts to close Iran's land routes with neighboring countries. "We did have a maximum pressure campaign. Now we have an absolute isolation campaign, and it's working," he said, according to The Block's report of the interview.

The $1 billion question

Bessent did not identify the targeted wallets or exchanges, and did not say whether the $1 billion target would be additional to previously announced seizures, The Block reported. In May, Bessent said the U.S. had seized about $1 billion in Iranian crypto, saying authorities "just outright grabbed the wallets," but a Treasury release issued shortly afterward cited the earlier estimate of nearly $500 million. In April, Bessent said in an interview that authorities had seized $500 million of crypto tied to Iran. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control announced in August that it was targeting crypto exchanges facilitating fund transfers to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, saying the U.S. planned to "increase the economic pressure" on Iran's financial networks "in dollars, rials, or crypto."

The $550 million frozen USDT trail

Stablecoin issuer Tether has been the enforcement tool of choice. Tether reported in September that it froze about $550 million worth of USDT in 2026 as part of U.S. sanctions enforcement on Iran, including more than $344 million from two addresses in April, Cointelegraph reported. Onchain analyst Specter linked a July Treasury wallet-sanctions action to four Tron addresses holding roughly $131 million in USDT that Tether blacklisted. The sanctions net has also hit Iranian exchanges directly: the U.S. sanctioned BitBank in September over allegations it moved hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin to the IRGC between June and July, after sanctioning Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex in June and Shelbit and Aban Tether in August. Treasury also sanctioned 17 vessels on October 8 over alleged shipments of Iranian petroleum products, and federal prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture case in September seeking about $61 million in crypto tied to Iranian oil sales, according to crypto.news and the Coinotag report.

The $7.78 billion Iranian crypto economy

The seizure push targets an ecosystem that still moves serious volume. Chainalysis estimated that Iran's cryptocurrency ecosystem handled more than $7.78 billion in activity during 2025. Analytics firm Elliptic tied $507 million in USDT directly to the Central Bank of Iran, which it said was using the stablecoin to prop up a collapsing rial. A Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations review led by Senator Richard Blumenthal found that 84% of 846 Iran-linked wallets transacted almost entirely in USDT. Bessent's comments landed one day after President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that the U.S. would not attack Iran before the November 3 midterm elections while keeping the blockade in place, a post that helped Bitcoin rebound toward $83,000 on Friday.

This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.

Sources

• U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, interview with Greta Van Susteren at Newsmax's Policy Summit, Washington (Oct. 8, 2026), primary source for the $1 billion seizure plan and the absolute isolation campaign framing
• The Block, US targets $1 billion Iran-linked crypto seizure, Bessent says 'we know where it is' (Oct. 9, 2026), secondary source for the interview quotes and prior seizure figures
• Cointelegraph, Treasury Secretary: US Targeting $1B Crypto Linked to Iran as Part of Isolation Strategy (Oct. 9, 2026), secondary source for the August OFAC exchange targeting and Tether's $550 million in 2026 freezes
• U.S. Treasury Department, Office of Foreign Assets Control Iran sanctions announcement (Aug. 2026), primary source for the targeting of crypto exchanges moving funds to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
• crypto.news, US eyes $1 billion Iran-linked crypto seizure, Bessent says (Oct. 9, 2026), secondary source for the October 8 vessel sanctions and Chainalysis's $7.78 billion activity estimate