Blockchain analysis company Arkham has published a public chain map containing crypto wallets stated to belong to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI). This study opens two U.S.-sanctioned Tron (TRC-20) wallets for review to the public and researchers, according to the company’s May 11 study. The wallets in question were added to the list of “specially designated nationals” by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on April 24; The wallets were accepted to belong to the Central Bank of Iran on the grounds that they were linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force and Hezbollah.
Tron and Tether Transactions at the Focus of Sanctions
This map created by Arkham examines the ways Iran-related institutions transfer funds outside of traditional banking using stablecoin and blockchain networks. As US authorities increase enforcement of sanctions over terrorist financing and oil revenues, the role of crypto infrastructure is also being monitored more closely. As part of this latest sanction by OFAC, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that $ 344 million of crypto assets linked to Iran were frozen. Bessent said this step aims to systematically disrupt Tehran’s ability to generate and transfer funds.
Tether company also announced that it had frozen funds that it stated were associated with illegal activities, upon the request of US authorities. However, he did not directly name Iran in his public statement.
In the statement made by the US Treasury Department, it was emphasized that international cooperation and transparency were increased against Iran’s efforts to move its funds through crypto assets.
Arkham’s move is seen as part of a general push by blockchain analysis companies and stablecoin issuers to expose sanctions evasion networks that use crypto infrastructure, particularly those tied to Tron and Tether.
Iran’s Crypto Asset Traffic and Featured Platforms
In the note published by Chainalysis on April 27, it was stated that Iran’s oil revenues circulated through various intermediary wallets, brokers, interchain bridges and decentralized finance protocols. At the end of this process, the funds are transferred back to accounts linked to the Central Bank of Iran and the Revolutionary Guards.
In February, another report based on data from TRM Labs and Chainalysis recorded Iran’s total crypto transaction volume in 2024 as approximately $11.4 billion; The 2025 estimate was shown as 10 billion dollars.
By May, reports emerged that Iran’s largest crypto exchange, Nobitex, was linked to one of the country’s leading political families and served as the primary bridge between local users and the international market. This situation brought the role of crypto platforms in exceeding legal limits to the agenda again.
Seeking Alternative Income with Digital Assets
In April, it was reported that Iran was considering charging crypto fees to ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, thus aiming to generate additional income through digital assets outside traditional financial means.
On the other hand, according to Cointelegraph, Tether has frozen more than 500 million USDT assets in total on Ethereum and Tron in the last 30 days; It was stated that 506 million dollars of this amount was on Tron.
A spokesperson for the TRON network stated that there is no direct monitoring or blocking of individual transactions on the network, adding that the T3 Financial Crime Unit, created in 2024 and working in cooperation with TRON, Tether and TRM Labs, played a role in freezing hundreds of millions of dollars of funds in coordination with law enforcement. Tether did not comment on this issue.
