U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent posted on X on April 29 that Washington’s sanctions campaign is now targeting Iran’s “access to cryptocurrencies,” along with its oil exports, shipping network, and shadow banking channels.
It is the first time the Treasury Department has so explicitly named a digital asset in the context of the Iran pressure campaign, placing the cryptocurrency in the middle of a geopolitical conflict that has already driven Bitcoin’s price for weeks.
Treasury links cryptocurrencies to Iran sanctions push
Bessent said in the post that the Treasury Department is targeting Iran’s shadow banking system, access to cryptocurrencies, arms procurement networks, and China’s “teapot” refineries that buy Iranian crude through what it calls “economic outrage.”
The move wiped out “tens of billions of dollars in revenue” that could have been used to finance terrorism, he said, adding that Iran’s main oil export terminal, Kharg Island, was nearing storage capacity, a situation that could force production cuts that would eliminate the equivalent of about $170 million a day in revenue.
Still, the mention of cryptocurrencies stood out amid years of sanctions enforcement focused on banks, oil traders and shipping companies. Placing digital assets on the same level as shadow banking and arms procurement is a sign that the Treasury Department believes cryptocurrencies are used not only for microtransfers but also as part of the actual trade settlement infrastructure.
According to market analyst Shanaka Anslem Perera, the move designates 35 entities and individuals under two existing executive orders. He named the UK-registered Shuqun Ltd, which allegedly transferred more than $70 million for Iranian crude oil on behalf of Iran’s National Oil Company until 2024, and Fratello Carbone Trading Limited, which allegedly transferred more than $20 million.
The total number of Iran-related targets under economic outrage is now over 1,000 since February 25th. Mr. Perera’s reading of Mr. Bessent was that the warning was not primarily directed at Iran. It was directed at every bank, exchange, and intermediary around the world that handles Iranian flows.
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Why virtual currency continues to be a hot topic in the Hormuz conflict
This is not the first time cryptocurrencies and Iran have clashed in the markets this month, with the Financial Times reporting on April 8 that Iranian authorities are requiring ships attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz to pay in Bitcoin. When those reports came out, $BTC It went from about $68,000 to about $73,000.
The situation has continued to change since then, with information emerging on April 27 that Iran submitted a new peace proposal through a Pakistani intermediary. As a result, Bitcoin briefly rose to a 12-week high of nearly $80,000, but it was rejected and fell sharply.
But yesterday, President Trump posted on Truth Social that Iran has entered a “collapse state” and oil prices have fallen, with oil prices exceeding $100 per barrel. $BTC Under $76,000.
These price movements demonstrate how closely cryptocurrencies currently trade with geopolitical risks, energy supply concerns, and sanctions policies, and if the U.S. government can disrupt crypto-related payment channels related to Iranian trade, it may be able to reduce one of its sanctions avoidance options. But if alternative trains continue to operate, this campaign may only push more transactions away from the dollar system and into the renminbi and digital assets.
