US Treasury Sanctions Iran-Linked Crypto Wallets, $344 Million Frozen With Tether Support

The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned multiple Iran-linked cryptocurrency wallets and helped freeze roughly $344 million in digital assets, underscoring Washington’s growing reliance on blockchain analytics and stablecoin issuers to disrupt sanctions evasion networks.

According to Odaily, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department is tracking and blocking financial channels connected to the Iranian regime. The action follows a statement from Tether, which said it supported U.S. authorities by freezing funds held in two addresses totaling about $344 million.

Blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis assessed that the wallets’ activity patterns resembled onchain flows associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). U.S. authorities said blockchain analysis indicated the funds moved through intermediate addresses and interacted with wallets linked to Iran’s central bank, with signs they were used for sanctions circumvention and to facilitate international trade.

The report added that Iran’s crypto holdings were estimated at $7.8 billion in 2025, with IRGC-associated holdings said to account for roughly 50% as of the fourth quarter of last year—figures that, if accurate, highlight how closely crypto enforcement has become tied to geopolitical risk and illicit finance monitoring.

In Europe, Polish exchange Zondacrypto is facing insolvency concerns after reports that around 99% of its Bitcoin reserves have disappeared, potentially pushing total losses above $100 million. Wu Blockchain, citing Polish outlet Onet, reported that CEO Przemysław Kral has left for Israel and may be difficult to extradite due to nationality issues.

Kral reportedly said he cannot access about 4,500 BTC, claiming the private keys were held by founder Sylwester Suszek. Suszek has been missing since 2022, and Polish prosecutors have reportedly considered the possibility that he was killed. The exchange has halted withdrawals and its management has stepped down, while Polish authorities have opened criminal and financial investigations—placing the spotlight back on exchange governance, custody controls, and proof-of-reserves practices.

In the U.S., Tennessee has moved to ban crypto ATMs statewide, a rare step beyond the licensing and transaction-limit frameworks adopted in many other states. Odaily reported that Governor Bill Lee signed bill HB 2505, making Tennessee the second state after Indiana to implement a blanket prohibition.

The law takes effect July 1. Operating or installing a ‘virtual currency self-service terminal’—including Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs—will be treated as a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. Retailers that allow the machines on-site may also face legal liability, reflecting intensifying enforcement pressure tied to scams and consumer protection complaints.

Macro policy uncertainty also remained in focus after Odaily reported the White House said its inquiry into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is still ongoing. While details were not provided, continued scrutiny of the Fed leadership risks amplifying concerns around policy independence and the rate path—factors that can reverberate across crypto markets, where liquidity expectations often dominate short-term positioning in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

On the institutional side, Grayscale was reported to have staked approximately 102,400 ETH—worth about $237 million—over a 10-hour window via its Ethereum Mini Trust, according to PANews citing Lookonchain. The move is likely to be read as an effort to broaden how major asset managers deploy ETH-related holdings, particularly as staking yields remain a central pillar of Ethereum’s investment narrative.

Meanwhile, Whale Alert flagged several large onchain transfers that traders often watch for potential shifts in exchange supply. An anonymous wallet sent 2,770 BTC—valued around $216 million—to Kraken, a pattern sometimes interpreted as possible sell-side positioning. Separately, Whale Alert reported a transfer of about 168.3 million USDT from Ceffu to an unidentified wallet on Ethereum, though the purpose—whether internal treasury movement, OTC settlement, or custody reallocation—was not confirmed.

In DeFi, Aave DAO published a proposal to contribute 25,000 ETH to recovery efforts following the Kelp rsETH bridge incident, according to Wu Blockchain. The proposal would allocate a fixed contribution from Aave’s treasury to support DeFi United’s broader restoration process.

The shortfall from the April 18 incident was initially estimated at roughly 163,183 ETH, later narrowing to about 75,081 ETH after accounting for freezes and anticipated recoveries. Around 14,570 ETH in support commitments have been secured so far, while Mantle has provided a credit facility of up to 30,000 ETH. Under the proposal, additional contributions would be used first to repay Mantle, positioning the effort as a test case for collective DeFi risk management and ecosystem trust rebuilding.

Traditional tech and payments firms also pushed further into blockchain infrastructure and standards. AWS Marketplace integrated Chainlink’s data feeds, data streams, and proof-of-reserve services, enabling developers to connect AWS cloud services with onchain smart contracts, PANews reported citing The Block. The integration aims to make it easier for institutions to develop tokenized-asset and smart-contract applications within familiar enterprise tooling, strengthening the bridge between cloud-native workflows and oracle-driven blockchain applications.

Separately, Mastercard joined the Blockchain Security Standards Council (BSSC), a nonprofit consortium focused on developing and maintaining blockchain security standards, PANews reported. Mastercard will participate in the organization’s security and privacy working group alongside members including Figment, Coinbase, Fireblocks, and Anchorage Digital—another signal that major financial brands are increasingly engaging not just with adoption, but with the ‘security-by-design’ frameworks needed for broader institutional participation.

Taken together, the day’s developments highlight crypto’s widening overlap with geopolitics, consumer protection enforcement, and institutional infrastructure—while also reinforcing a familiar reality for markets: the biggest price and sentiment swings often follow shifts in regulation, security events, and liquidity expectations rather than product announcements alone.