Israel orders seizure of 137 Iran-linked wallets holding $1.5B USDT
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Israel’s Ministry of Defense ordered the seizure of 137 crypto wallets, with an estimated balance of $1.5B USDT, based on additional reports. The wallets have been linked to sanctioned usage in Iran. A total of 137 wallets with up to $1.5B were seized by the Israel Ministry of Defense. The wallets mostly contained USDT, and were reportedly linked to sanctioned usage in Iran. The official order listed the Ethereum addresses for the assets. The wallets were identified as property of the designated terrorist organization Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and were considered linked to potential terrorist financing. The wallets listed used a TRON address format, as TRON-based USDT has been associated with illegal financing. The wallets reportedly held up to $1.5B in total balances, but the remaining amount is at $1.5M. The discovery of the long list of addresses follows previous connections of terrorism to using TRON-based wallets for donations. Iran’s crypto usage is focused on TRON, a chain that does not face much scrutiny as Ethereum. However, the recent hack of the Nobitex exchange happened through TRON-based transfers, and was reportedly a deliberate attempt to deprive Iranian organizations of crypto financing. Researchers from Eliptic have linked Nobitex to IRGC financing, mostly due to connections to vanity addresses. Will the USDT confiscation have an impact? Crypto wallets remain anonymous or at least pseudonymous. Seizing wallets is also impossible without access to private keys. USDT can be frozen, but there are no reports of involving Tether or TRON in their role of controlling the illegal usage of stablecoins. Most of the USDT from the seized wallets was moved in early 2025, leaving only $1.5M in remaining balances. | Source: Elipsis. In general, USDT illegal usage has been handled by the T3 Financial Crime Unit, where TRON and Tether collaborate and freeze some known…
Filed under: News - @ September 16, 2025 9:28 am