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US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the US government ordered the freezing of more than $130 million in cryptocurrency held in wallets associated with Iran, in response to escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Wallet freeze targets Iran’s Central BankBlockchain investigator Specter earlier identified onchain data showing that stablecoin issuer Tether froze four Tron blockchain wallets containing a total of $131 million worth of USDt (USDT). Bessent confirmed that these wallets were linked to the Central Bank of Iran.

Mini dictionary: Tron, a blockchain platform focused on high-throughput and scalable decentralized applications, supports USDT (Tether) token issuance and transactions. Tether is a popular stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, widely used in cryptocurrency trading and payments.

Bessent emphasized the Treasury Department’s efforts to counteract Iran’s financial activities using digital assets. He stated, “US Treasury is committed to disrupting and degrading Iran’s illicit financial activities, including its abuse of digital assets.” He added that authorities will continue tracing and blocking funds to prevent the Iranian government from accessing income generated via illicit operations.

“We will continue to aggressively follow the money and deny the Iranian regime access to the proceeds of its illicit revenue schemes.”

Ongoing pressure campaign against IranThe asset freeze coincided with the breakdown of a ceasefire between the US and Iran. Washington renewed its blockade of Iranian ports, while the US Central Command reported a new wave of military strikes on targets in Iran. On the same day, Iranian defense sources claimed to have conducted drone operations against American military facilities at Jordan’s Al Azraq Air Base.

This is not the first time the US government has coordinated with Tether on such actions. In April, Tether stated it froze over $344 million in USDT at the request of US authorities, as part of broader measures targeting Iran’s access to international financial systems.

MonthFrozen Amount (USDT)Initiated byApril$344 millionTether, US authoritiesJune$131 millionTether, US TreasuryOperation Economic Fury expands seizuresBessent earlier reported in May that the US had seized around $1 billion in Iranian crypto assets since the introduction of Operation Economic Fury, a financial pressure campaign begun in March 2025.

He described the ongoing initiative as a comprehensive effort targeting procurement networks supplying the Iranian military. “Through Economic Fury, the Treasury Department is disrupting the foreign procurement networks that support the Iranian military’s efforts to acquire weapons,” Bessent stated in June.

Treasury has frozen the Iranian regime’s assets, severely disrupted its economy, and dismantled the Iranian war machine. Treasury will not tolerate any support of the Iranian military.

TRM, an analytics firm specializing in blockchain forensics, reported that entities linked to Iran moved $3.8 billion in crypto through CoinEx, a global cryptocurrency exchange, as part of operations scrutinized under the ongoing sanctions framework.

Mini dictionary: TRM Labs is a blockchain intelligence company that analyzes cryptocurrency transactions to detect financial crime, money laundering, and sanction violations.

US authorities have repeatedly signaled that digital assets will remain a focus in efforts to clamp down on Iranian financial networks, with further actions possible as hostilities continue.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

2026.05.21 11:22:52

May 21. On May 20, the U.S. Spot Hyperliquid ETF notched $25.5 million in net inflows—its largest single-day haul since launch. In the days leading up to that date, the ETF had posted net inflows of $4.4 million on Monday and $11 million on Tuesday. Data shows the 21Shares Hyperliquid ETF (THYP), which launched on May 12, brought in $16.7 million in net inflows that same day—up from the $5.3 million it saw the prior day. The Bitwise Hyperliquid ETF (BHYP), launched on May 14, took in $8.8 million, a jump from the $5.7 million it recorded the day before. Over its first seven trading days, the entire category has pulled in a total net inflow of $54 million. Peter Chung, research director at Presto Research, noted that when adjusted for market capitalization, institutional flows into the HYPE ETF have outpaced the speed of inflows into Bitcoin ETFs so far this year. Dominick John, an analyst at Zeus Research, added that these inflows signal investors are capitalizing on entry points tied to the infrastructure narrative, while recognizing the asset’s transparent, usage-driven revenue model. Fueling this momentum, HYPE’s token price surged 17.3% in the past 24 hours to $55.91, with a current market cap of roughly $13.4 billion. The token previously hit an all-time high of around $59.3 in September 2025. Per CoinGecko data, HYPE’s fully diluted valuation briefly reached about $54.7 billion, momentarily surpassing Solana’s $54.2 billion valuation at the time. Tim Sun, a senior researcher at HashKey Group, believes the sustained inflows into the HYPE ETF show the market is forming a new consensus: decentralized trading platforms are starting to be integrated into broader overhauls of financial infrastructure. Jeff Ko, chief analyst at CoinEx, pointed out that HYPE and its related ETFs have structural investment logic distinct from Bitcoin and Ethereum. He explained: Bitcoin acts as a non-yielding store of value; Ethereum centers on staking rewards; HYPE, meanwhile, operates more like equity in a cash-flow-generating trading platform—since the protocol uses most of its fees for open-market token buybacks, giving investors a more familiar valuation framework to work with. On-chain metrics confirm Hyperliquid has become a dominant player in on-chain perpetual contract and derivative trading. So far this week, the network has captured approximately 42% of total blockchain fees, outperforming Tron (22.6%), Solana (10.6%), and Ethereum (8%) in that key metric.

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