Arkham: "Hidden Iranian Cryptocurrency Wallets Revealed"...US Treasury Freezes $340 Million

▲ US, Iran, Bitcoin (BTC), Virtual Assets/AI Generated Image

As Arkham unveiled a map of cryptocurrency wallets it identified as linked to Iran's central bank, the flow of Iran's digital assets, surrounding sanctions evasion and fund movements, has come under public scrutiny.

Bitcoinist reported on May 13 (local time) that blockchain analytics firm Arkham had built a searchable public map of cryptocurrency wallets it believes are linked to Iran's central bank. The map is centered around two Tron (TRX)-based wallets that were added to the U.S. Treasury Department's Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list on April 24.

The U.S. Treasury Department identified these two addresses as assets of the Central Bank of Iran, Bank Markazi Jomhouri Islami Iran. The Treasury Department stated that these addresses are linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-Qods Force) and Hezbollah, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that approximately $344 million worth of cryptocurrency was frozen as a result of this action. Tether confirmed that it froze the funds at the request of U.S. authorities but did not directly mention Iran in its public statement.

Arkham released its own investigation findings on May 11, grouping the sanctioned addresses under the Iran Central Bank entity page. The company explained that this page could serve as a starting point for tracking linked wallets and transaction flows. These wallets contain TRC-20 tokens operating on the Tron network, a standard that includes USDT, the world's largest stablecoin.

The flow of funds was not simple. According to Chainalysis, Iranian oil revenues moved through brokers, intermediary wallets, cross-chain bridges, and decentralized finance protocols to accounts related to the Central Bank of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Bitcoinist reported that this structure is a layered, obfuscated path designed to conceal the origin of funds. A Tron spokesperson explained that while the network itself cannot monitor or block individual transactions, the T3 Financial Crime Unit, launched by Tron, Tether, and TRM Labs in 2024, is a key means of detecting misuse.

Iran's cryptocurrency activities are not limited to the wallets disclosed in this instance. According to estimates by TRM Labs and Chainalysis, Iran's total cryptocurrency transaction volume reached approximately $11.4 billion in 2024 and $10 billion in 2025. Bitcoinist reported that Iran is also considering imposing cryptocurrency-based transit fees on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, indicating that digital assets are being discussed as a new source of revenue beyond sanctions evasion.

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