The U.S. Treasury has placed Iran's digital asset sector under the same sanctions authority it uses for oil, banking, and metals. The move, part of a broader operation the administration calls Economic Outcast, gives the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) the power to sanction any person, anywhere, for helping transactions that support Iran's crypto industry. It also named three members of an Iranian hacking group and published their wallet addresses.
New authority, new targets
With this designation, OFAC can now hit foreign exchanges, over-the-counter desks, payment processors, and infrastructure providers that knowingly facilitate transactions supporting Iran's digital asset sector. The penalty for getting caught up is steep: designation and loss of access to the U.S. financial system. That's the same stick used against Iran's oil and banking sectors, and it's meant to be a strong one.
Who got named
The Treasury also designated a group from Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) accused of hacking U.S. critical infrastructure. The co-leader, Behzad Mesri, is on the list, along with members Keyvan Fayyaz Ghareh Blagh and Arman Kahzadian. OFAC published their crypto wallet addresses, which is a direct way to tell the industry, don't deal with these people.
The group is part of a larger MOIS contingent that's gone after U.S. targets through data theft and intrusions against corporations and government offices. That's not a new behavior, but now the crypto wallets linked to them are public.
Why crypto is a target
OFAC's rationale is that Iran increasingly turns to crypto to dodge sanctions. The Treasury says those transactions support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and regime insiders. It's not just theory. Bloomberg reported in May that Iran had started a bitcoin-backed insurance service for its shipping companies. And in July, the U.S. froze crypto tied to the regime, mostly in the form of the Tether stablecoin.
There's a wrinkle that matters here: stablecoins like USDT can be frozen by the company that issues them. Bitcoin, being decentralized and with no single issuer, can't be. That's a structural gap the sanctions can't reach the same way. So the Treasury's move now is about trying to cut off the exchanges and payment processors that connect Iran to the wider crypto market.
