The U.S. Treasury Department has included Iran's digital asset industry in the sanctions scope

The U.S. Treasury Department announced this week that it will include Iran's digital asset industry in the same sanctions framework it has long used to sanction the oil, banking, and financial sectors, further tightening Iran's ability to evade sanctions through cryptocurrency. This action is part of "Operation Economic Outcast," referred to as "Economic D-Day" against Iran, and represents a significant escalation of global risks for cryptocurrency enterprises.

According to the new action, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has the authority to impose sanctions on individuals anywhere. OFAC stated that Iran is increasingly using cryptocurrency as a preferred tool to evade sanctions, supporting transactions related to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and insiders of the Iranian regime. Foreign exchanges, over-the-counter desks, payment processors, and infrastructure providers that knowingly support transactions in Iran's digital asset industry will face the risk of being added to the sanctions list and losing access to the U.S. financial system.

OFAC also sanctioned members of a group within Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) accused of representing Iran in attacks on critical U.S. infrastructure and published their wallet addresses. The group's co-leader Behzad Mesri and members Keyvan Fayyaz Ghareh Blagh and Arman Kahzadian's Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency addresses have been added to the sanctions list. Previously, Bloomberg reported that Iran had launched Bitcoin-backed insurance services for shipping companies, and the U.S. also froze cryptocurrency assets related to the Iranian regime in July, most of which were Tether stablecoins.