Overview of the Sanction
On April 24, 2026, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated two cryptocurrency wallets as property of the Central Bank of Iran. This action is notable as it marks the first time OFAC has sanctioned wallets directly linked to the Iranian central bank, which has connections to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and Hizballah.
Details of the Frozen Assets
According to TRM Labs, OFAC coordinated with Tether and U.S. law enforcement to freeze approximately $344.2 million across these two addresses. The wallets had received around $370 million through nearly 1,000 transactions since March 2021. Notably, one wallet has no recorded outbound transfers, while the other has moved less than $16 million against more than $228 million in inflows.
The accumulation of funds in these wallets appears to have concluded by late 2023, after which the balances remained largely dormant until the recent sanctions. This behavior is consistent with that of sovereign reserve storage rather than active operational deployment.
On-Chain Evidence and Behavioral Analysis
The on-chain analysis indicates that both wallets functioned primarily as terminal repositories, accumulating funds and consolidating them between themselves. Outbound activity from these wallets totaled approximately $25 million in USDT, which is less than 7% of the total volume received. The largest outbound transfer was an $8.6 million transaction between the two designated wallets in January 2022.
TRM Labs has previously documented a pattern of crypto-enabled sanctions evasion by Iran, including the designation of exchanges like Zedcex and Zedxion in January 2026. These exchanges were linked to IRGC-controlled wallets and facilitated significant crypto transactions, further integrating cryptocurrency into Iran's financial system.
Implications for Compliance and Future Actions
The recent sanctions have significant compliance implications for organizations operating within the cryptocurrency space. Entities with exposure to these wallets should conduct thorough reviews of their counterparty and transaction-level exposure to identify any indirect connections to the broader network associated with these wallets.
This action indicates that sovereign-level actors are now directly engaging with crypto settlement rails, which may prompt further scrutiny and regulatory actions in the future. Organizations should remain vigilant and adapt their compliance frameworks accordingly.
- Terminal repository wallet
- A wallet used mainly to accumulate and hold funds, with limited outbound activity compared with its inflows.
For address-level context, use TrustSniffer’s wallet-risk checker and treat the result as a screening signal rather than proof of ownership, intent, or wrongdoing.
Known public risk labels can also be reviewed in the TrustSniffer sanctions directory, with the original authority checked before a decision is made.
