US says it has seized $1 billion in crypto assets from Iran

[littlemissmartypants]

Source: Reuters/Times of Israel

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the US has seized $1 billion in Iranian cryptocurrency assets as part of the economic component of President Donald Trump's war on the Islamic Republic.

By Reuters
Today, 10:38 pm Israel (7 hours ahead)

Read more: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/us-says-it-has-seized-1-billion-in-crypto-assets-from-iran/

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US Reaches $1 Billion Seized Iran Crypto to Date: Bessent's Big Update

US reaches $1 billion cumulative seizure of Iranian crypto assets to date.
Bessent updates total from $500 million in April to $1 billion today.
Part of Operation Economic Fury targeting Iran sanctions evasion networks.

Cumulative Total Hits $1 Billion
The figure represents the running total seized to date, not a single new action announced today.

It builds on earlier milestones, including a major April 2026 freeze of $344 million in USDT on the Tron blockchain.

Published:
29 May 2026, 19:22 UTC
Updated:
29 May 2026, 19:31 UTC

https://beincrypto.com/us-1-billion-seized-iran-crypto/

[rampartd]

1. isn't that why they use crypto? so the gov't can't seize it?

[littlemissmartypants]

4. I suspect that the sanctions placed on Iran have fixed any problems to access the regime had.

[wcmagumba]

2. Are crypto assets real? Being a basic (poor) person on a fixed income I really don't know...

[Laha]

6. I'm no expert

Just speaking from some small personal trading experience.

The short answer is no. They don't produce anything so the value only exists by what people believe it to be.

"Seizing" crypto funds isn't like seizing currency. All they're going to do is spook the investors who might buy, and as a result tank the market. There will be nothing to withdraw from anywhere because it takes public trust. Which is eroding quickly, because crypto has repeatedly proven itself to be nothing but a haven for risky investors and tax evaders.

I don't know where things will go from here. Just my random thoughts.

[WA-03 Democrat]

11. Buy drugs or weapons?

There is no physical asset behind it, no bank, no country, no hard currency. It’s just a digital asset that sits on a server and in someone’s or thing’s digital wallet. The values swing and the valuation is suspect like everything else these days. Where are those 2 missing pilots we got out during Easter weekend now?

Think of it as a bag of magic beans that don’t work-but we have a billion more now.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Trump stealing everything down to the studs is official US policy.

At home and around the world.

[stillspkg]

13. This

It is theft, or bullying. So sick. I'm sure there will be no end to this until that kind of crap stops

[Irish_Dem]

21. It is a clinical seminar: How psychopaths function when they have no restraints.

[efhmc]

14. I so wished that the pedopres did not represent me or all the other decent Americans in any way.

[Irish_Dem]

22. Our country is run by ruthless, dangerous, psychopaths.

And yes they represent the USA.

[2na fisherman]

5. What's His Cut

How much of that $1 billion will Trump and Bessent keep?

[Harker]

8. I expect we'll never know.

[littlemissmartypants]

9. That was my first thought, 2na fisherman. They probably took more than that but we're only hearing about a small bit.

[FakeNoose]

10. Since it's fake money anyway, they'll keep all of it

[paleotn]

7. I don't believe it.

If Bessent, the man with the most punchable face imaginable, said the sun rises in the east each morning, I'd ask for confirmation.

[mdbl]

12. "Crypto Assets"

Sounds like an oxymoron

[Ford_Prefect]

15. IMO this is one more grandiose lie. No evidence to support it and dealing with a "currency" which exists in abstraction

[littlemissmartypants]

18. My question is why does Bessent seem to be doing Marco Rubio's job?

[SergeStorms]

23. I thought the vaunted "blockchain".....

prevented thievery of crypto assets? If governments can seize crypto "assets" from countries or people does that mean those "assets" aren't safe at all?

I call bullshit on this "seizure."

[Roy Rolling]

16. $1 billion in crypto assets

According to who?

Trump NFTs are down 95%* in value.

* estimate

[littlemissmartypants]

17. These seized assets are the assets of the Iranian government.

[Deminpenn]

19. Good to know the US Treasury can do this

for when the next Dem president needs to recover all the money Trump and his cromies have stolen and grifted from US taxpayers.

[modrepub]

20. So Will This Be Counted

As part of Iran’s $300 BILLION reconstruction fund?

https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/middle-east/iran-eastern-states/artc-new-details-negotiations-300-billion-fund-for-iran-and-a-halt-to-fighting-in-lebanon-report

We’ll all probably be stuck paying into this fund because most sane countries wouldn’t turn over funds that would almost definitely not be used to actually help most Iranians.