Tether freezes $131 million in stablecoins from Iran Central Bank

The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has updated its designation of the Central Bank of Iran to include four additional cryptocurrency wallet addresses, in a move that resulted in Tether freezing $131 million in stablecoins.

According to Chainalysis, the four newly listed wallets had collectively received $165 million in stablecoins. Once the wallets were added as identifiers to the Central Bank of Iran designation, balances totaling $131 million were frozen by Tether, making the funds inaccessible to the Iranian regime.

The latest action expands OFAC’s financial blockade against Iran’s central bank, which U.S. authorities say has used cryptocurrency to sidestep sanctions, support the regime and move assets to regional partners including Lebanon-based Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terror group.

This is not the first time that Iran’s crypto ecosystem has been targeted by U.S. sanctions. In June, OFAC sanctioned Nobitex, Iran’s largest crypto exchange, along with Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex, for sanctions evasion, terrorist financing and helping prop up the Iranian regime. At the time, OFAC said Nobitex had processed hundreds of millions of dollars in stablecoin transfers for the Central Bank of Iran’s efforts to support the country’s currency.

Earlier Chainalysis estimated Iran’s crypto market at more than $7.78 billion in 2025, with over half of Iranian digital asset inflows processed by Nobitex. Wallex and Bitpin accounted for 12 percent and 10 percent, respectively, while Ramzinex has processed more than $2.45 billion in lifetime transactions.

The latest freeze also builds on earlier cases where stablecoin issuers moved against Iranian exchange-linked wallets. In March, on-chain investigator ZachXBT reported that Circle and Tether had frozen a wallet tied to Iranian exchange Wallex, with $2.49 million in USDT made inaccessible after the address was flagged.

Iran still relies heavily on stablecoins

Chainalysis’ research into Iran’s crypto activity has repeatedly pointed to the regime’s preference for stablecoins. The logic is clear: stablecoins are highly liquid, globally accepted and useful for cross-border transfers, making them attractive for both legitimate users and illicit actors operating under sanctions.

But that same reliance creates a vulnerability. Centralized stablecoin issuers can freeze tokens held in wallets identified by law enforcement or sanctions authorities, preventing the address from sending or spending the balance even though the funds remain visible on-chain.

According to Chainalysis, Tether has now frozen almost $475 million from wallet addresses OFAC identified as belonging to the Central Bank of Iran. The latest $131 million freeze therefore takes the enforcement trend closer to half a billion dollars in immobilized regime-linked stablecoins.

Hormuz toll proposal raised sanctions exposure concerns

Iran’s stablecoin usage has also been connected to geopolitical tensions in the region. Lara on the Block previously reported that Chainalysis believed stablecoins, rather than Bitcoin, would be the preferred tool if Iranian actors attempted to collect crypto-denominated tolls from ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Chainalysis warned that shipping companies making such payments could face significant sanctions exposure.

The same analysis noted that the IRGC’s documented on-chain activity, spanning oil sales, weapons procurement and proxy financing, has overwhelmingly relied on stablecoins as the medium of exchange, while Bitcoin has been more commonly associated with Iranian cyber actors and ransomware-related activity.