US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent posted on X on April 29 that Washington’s sanctions campaign is now targeting Iran’s access to cryptocurrency, alongside measures against oil exports, shipping networks, and shadow banking channels.
This is the first time the Treasury has explicitly named digital assets in the context of its pressure campaign on Iran, placing crypto squarely in the middle of a geopolitical dispute that has already influenced Bitcoin’s price for weeks.
Treasury Links Crypto to Iran Sanctions Push
In his post, Bessent said the Treasury, through an initiative he labeled “Economic Fury,” had focused on Iran’s shadow banking system, access to crypto, weapons procurement networks, and the Chinese “teapot” refineries that purchase Iranian crude.
He stated that the measures had disrupted “tens of billions of dollars of revenue” that might otherwise have funded terrorism. Bessent also noted that Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal, was approaching storage capacity—a development that could force production cuts, potentially costing roughly $170 million a day in lost revenue.
What stood out was the explicit mention of crypto. For years, sanctions enforcement emphasized banks, oil traders, and shipping firms. Grouping digital assets with shadow banking and weapons procurement signals that the Treasury views crypto not merely as a vehicle for small transfers but as a component of trade settlement infrastructure.
Market analyst Shanaka Anslem Perera said the latest actions designated 35 entities and individuals under two existing executive orders. Perera named UK-registered Shuqun Ltd, which allegedly transferred more than $70 million for Iranian crude on behalf of the National Iranian Oil Company through 2024, and Fratello Carbone Trading Limited, which reportedly moved more than $20 million.
Since February 25, the total number of Iran-related targets under Economic Fury has surpassed one thousand. Perera interpreted Bessent’s language as a warning not aimed solely at Tehran but at every bank, exchange, and intermediary worldwide that processes Iranian flows.
Why Crypto Keeps Coming Up in the Hormuz Dispute
This is not the first time crypto and Iran have intersected in financial markets this month. On April 8 the Financial Times reported that Iranian officials were demanding Bitcoin payments for ships seeking passage through the Strait of Hormuz. When that story broke, Bitcoin rallied from around $68,000 to nearly $73,000.
The situation continued to evolve: on April 27 reports surfaced that Iran had submitted a new peace proposal through Pakistani mediators, which briefly pushed Bitcoin to a 12-week high near $80,000 before it was rejected and prices fell sharply.
More recently, a post by former President Trump on Truth Social claimed Iran had entered a “state of collapse,” a statement that helped push oil above $100 a barrel and pulled Bitcoin below $76,000.
These price swings illustrate how closely cryptocurrency now moves with geopolitical risk, energy supply concerns, and sanctions policy. If Washington successfully disrupts crypto-linked settlement channels tied to Iranian trade, it could reduce one workaround for sanctions. Conversely, if alternative payment rails remain available, the campaign might simply shift more transactions away from the dollar system into currencies such as the yuan or into other digital-asset solutions.