US links Tether’s $344M crypto freeze to Iran in sanctions push

[_act_]

This is very poor from Iranian government. We said something like this will happen and it happened.

Why would Iran use stable coins at all? DAI is the best but they left it and use USDT.

https://cryptobriefing.com/us-tether-crypto-freeze-iran-link/

Bitcoin is there which is censorship resistant but they left it alone using USDT

I am neither in support of any country, but I expected a country not to think like someone that does not know about cryptocurrencies.

According to the latest news, more than $344 million was seized from Iran so far.

Treasury Secretary of the United States, Scott Bessent on Wednesday said that $500 million of Iranian stable coin has been seized so far in the lastest report.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/bessent-says-us-seized-nearly-500m-iranian-crypto-operation-economic-fury-sends-regime-crisis

[Ambatman]

Well I would add that Dai isn't free from censorship risk since they are backed by USDC
So quite similar In a well even if it's indirectly.
I believe they likely picked liquidity and convenience and wasn't expecting that it could be linked to them.
With the financial situation they currently in it sure is a costly mistake.
They chose to accept toll in Bitcoin so it's quite surprising they would take this route.

[Wiwo]

Iran is like we are done with dollar, but our alternatives is digital dollar USDT.

Iran held the world in an economic war, pushing for exchange currency change, encouraging cryptocurrency as alternative during the war, but left the real freedom which is bitcoin to hold on to centralized dollar.

[fillippone]

Iran Officials declared they want to use Bitcoin for the payments of the oil tanker tariff so that it cannot be blocked by anyone, righlty so.
They were perfectly knwoledgeable about the centralised nature of USDT, to i tend to imagine those addresses wereused on "old" operations rather than this last weeks'.

[shinratensei_]

USDT or stablecoins linked to Iran will be freezed and Bitcoin linked to Iran will be considered dirty. This seems to be the way it will go if Iran impose toll on the strait.
It's gonna be tough navigating around US sanction since they controlled every vital points even with crypto.

[$crypto$]

Iran Officials declared they want to use Bitcoin for the payments of the oil tanker tariff so that it cannot be blocked by anyone, righlty so.
They were perfectly knwoledgeable about the centralised nature of USDT, to i tend to imagine those addresses wereused on "old" operations rather than this last weeks'.

I got information about this $344M frozen wallet from two addresses originating on the tron network.
-TNiq9AXBp9EjUqhDhrwrfvAA8U3GUQZH81
-TTiDLWE6fZK8okMJv6ijg42yrH6W2pjSr9
If you look at the wallet transactions, this is indeed used by Iran's old operations, not about the recent Hormuz strait toll payment, because what I know with the Iranian plan to use bitcoin the tanker tariff will still be reviewed.

[viljy]

I do not really believe in such incompetence of the representatives of Iran, who carried out operations with these tokens and were unaware of the functionality of USDT. If these blocked tokens are really Iranian... Well, I have doubts about whether this news is reliable. If this is true, then the question arises whether this is a mistake due to the incompetence and, consequently, the professional unsuitability of those responsible for it, or is it an act of internal economic sabotage?

[free-bit.co.in]

USDT or stablecoins linked to Iran will be freezed and Bitcoin linked to Iran will be considered dirty. This seems to be the way it will go if Iran impose toll on the strait.
It's gonna be tough navigating around US sanction since they controlled every vital points even with crypto.

Avoiding US sanctions is quite difficult because they control a large part of the global financial system and international payment networks. But that is not impossible.

Look at Russia, despite thousands of sanctions from the US and EU over the year. They still found ways to maintain energy exports and continue trading with partners without any problem.

I think Iran's problem is simply that they were too complacent, assuming they would not be detected by the US when using USDT. This is a significant loss, but Im sure they've learned their lesson.

[alani123]

I'm nt suore how much of a success story this is.

First of all it's certain Iran would be quick to get rid of any USDT they get in exchange for BTC. So probably right now these frozen wallets are mostly smaller exchange services, many with US affiliation even.

It's interesting to see USDT becoming a tool for US gov. These funds were frozen without angry good proof that Iran authorities still had control over them. Sanctioned states are known to accept payments in stablecoins for simplicity but usually just sell off these stablecoins in OTC marketplceas really fast. So it's very likely that the parties most hurt from this freeze are no-KYC us based services, which is funny to consider.

America has created an economy based on sanctions and many smaller exchange business have been benefiting from it. Now also these businesses are the first to get hit with such a large seizure. Ofc BTC remains not possible to be seized.

[Die_empty]

If you look at the wallet transactions, this is indeed used by Iran's old operations, not about the recent Hormuz strait toll payment, because what I know with the Iranian plan to use bitcoin the tanker tariff will still be reviewed.

A nation that has been under severe sanctions from Western countries should never have had any connection with Tether. The US has some of the best experts and technological tools to trace crypto transactions. So the best option was for them to avoid centralized cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. 

I think Iran's problem is simply that they were too complacent, assuming they would not be detected by the US when using USDT. This is a significant loss, but Im sure they've learned their lesson.

If this is true, then the Iranian government made a very big blunder. You don't use the currency of an enemy and assume that it's safe. With this, they would switch to Bitcoin and other privacy coins.   

[KiaKia]

This is very poor from Iranian government. We said something like this will happen and it happened.

Why would Iran use stable coins at all? DAI is the best but they left it and use USDT.

https://cryptobriefing.com/us-tether-crypto-freeze-iran-link/

Bitcoin is there which is censorship resistant but they left it alone using USDT

I am neither in support of any country, but I expected a country not to think like someone that does not know about cryptocurrencies.

I don't get why you use DAI as an example? I don't get it, because what you expected the Iran government to do DAI can't handle that, because DAI is a decentralised stable coin and that's all, what Iran government needs is more than that.

They should have used privacy coin instead, like Monero not DAI, also I thought they abandoned this idea? What later made them to change their minds and use USDT?

Even beginners in crypto space knows that USDT is fully centralised and monitored all the time, they freeze funds when they want, that's so stupid of them.

[$crypto$]

If you look at the wallet transactions, this is indeed used by Iran's old operations, not about the recent Hormuz strait toll payment, because what I know with the Iranian plan to use bitcoin the tanker tariff will still be reviewed.

A nation that has been under severe sanctions from Western countries should never have had any connection with Tether. The US has some of the best experts and technological tools to trace crypto transactions. So the best option was for them to avoid centralized cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. 

It should be so, as Iran has always avoided USDT or other centralized stablecoins so this will indeed be easily tracked and frozen by Tether at the request of the government, especially since Iran's sanctions have never been relaxed.

I think Iran has now learned from the mistakes of the past, they must fully use bitcoin so that it is not easy to freeze just like that, although tracking will definitely be detected because we know the tools owned by the US government are now increasingly sophisticated.

[asriloni]

This is very poor from Iranian government. We said something like this will happen and it happened.

Why would Iran use stable coins at all? DAI is the best but they left it and use USDT.

Iran used stable coin such as USDT caused by it's widely accepted. It's also having deep liquidity. So it's easy for them to cash it out. I unsderstand DAI would be a better choice for them but look at its liquidity. It has small liquidity compared to USDT.

https://cryptobriefing.com/us-tether-crypto-freeze-iran-link/

Bitcoin is there which is censorship resistant but they left it alone using USDT

I am neither in support of any country, but I expected a country not to think like someone that does not know about cryptocurrencies.

You're right about they should have accepted Btc instead of USDT.  i remind you BTC has also being priced in dollar too. So i think they might think it's much more simple to accept USDT directly instead of BTC. I also remind you most of international traders are stil dominated by USD.

So using stable coin would shorting their way to do international trade.

[Kelward]

USDT or stablecoins linked to Iran will be freezed and Bitcoin linked to Iran will be considered dirty. This seems to be the way it will go if Iran impose toll on the strait.
It's gonna be tough navigating around US sanction since they controlled every vital points even with crypto.

So anyhow you look at it Iran will still be at the receiving end of sanctions, if they use USDT which is a stablecoin that is centralized their funds will be frozen and if they rely on Bitcoin which is decentralized their funds will be seen as tainted coins. It shows that the US still have an upper hand even though Iran doesn't want their transaction payments in USD.

Iran must be in a tight corner now because their relationship with neighboring middle east countries are not cordial not to talk about the world power America, that they are at war with. Assuming they have strong allies it would be a different ball game but the strait of Hormuz that is their bargaining chip is affecting many counties that could stand up for them. I agree that Iran's best option should be to find a way to avoid sanctions because clearly America, is still having the upper hand.

[programmer3666]

When a coin is controlled by a company, they can freeze funds anytime if there is pressure from governments. I think that’s exactly what happened in this case. It was more like what happened in the past with accounts linked to the Russia - Ukraine conflict, some crypto wallets and funds were restricted or frozen because of sanctions. So this kind of thing is not new. That is why people always say coins like Bitcoin are more censorship - resistant, because no single authority can easily block your funds.

[Joy_learns_crypto]

Iran is like we are done with dollar, but our alternatives is digital dollar USDT.

Iran held the world in an economic war, pushing for exchange currency change, encouraging cryptocurrency as alternative during the war, but left the real freedom which is bitcoin to hold on to centralized dollar.

That’s was funny from Iran to move from the actual dollar to the digital dollar.
Maybe they weren’t after Freedom they were just just after not using the US dollar but they had one job to find and alternative and the choose to use Tether.
The war is an economic war but also a mixture of hate between those at war US - Iran that is why they  negotiation is always breaking down.

[Btcdeybodi]

Iran is like we are done with dollar, but our alternatives is digital dollar USDT.

Iran held the world in an economic war, pushing for exchange currency change, encouraging cryptocurrency as alternative during the war, but left the real freedom which is bitcoin to hold on to centralized dollar.

That’s was funny from Iran to move from the actual dollar to the digital dollar.
Maybe they weren’t after Freedom they were just just after not using the US dollar but they had one job to find and alternative and the choose to use Tether.
The war is an economic war but also a mixture of hate between those at war US - Iran that is why they  negotiation is always breaking down.

They didn't move from the USD to USDT, the $344M that was frozen by tether are old coins held by the Iranian government. Currently, they are using bitcoin as a means of payment in order to bypass US sanctions. My concern is that why didn't they convert the USDT to bitcoins when they know the risks involved in leaving them in a coin that is pegged with the USD.

[dezoel]

I would assume that they did not really just put money in there, I think they were just moving money around it and that is why it got caught. I think it's also clear that we are seeing a company doing the bidding of a nation.

You may like or dislike Iran, but if Tether does whatever USA wants, then how do you know that your country isn't on the next list for USA? They do not even have to battle you, they could just put sanctions on you for a while and hold all your money ,and the reversal would be very impossible in that case.

[Faisal2202]

This is very poor from Iranian government. We said something like this will happen and it happened.

Why would Iran use stable coins at all? DAI is the best but they left it and use USDT.

Bitcoin is there which is censorship resistant but they left it alone using USDT

I am neither in support of any country, but I expected a country not to think like someone that does not know about cryptocurrencies.

They made the biggest mistake of their life, and here we are thinking they chose BTC for the Strait of Hormuz passage as a fee because they are so smart and understand what real freedom is. We think they know no one can freeze BTC, and that is why they chose it over stablecoins, especially USDT, and guess what, we were wrong haha.

Although if the IRGC or any authority in Iran has still not claimed these two addresses as theirs, then maybe they do not belong to them. But the chances are high that they belong to Iranians, so it is still a major hit. That is why some people argue no one should use USDT at all, even if they are not doing anything suspicious, because what if they start freezing USDT for every Iranian citizen tomorrow? They can do that for any reason. We are the only protectors of our money, and if we want it to be safe, we must choose freedom over convenience.

[Charles-Tim]

According to the latest news, more than $344 million was seized from Iran so far.

Treasury Secretary of the United States, Scott Bessent on Wednesday said that $500 million of Iranian stable coin has been seized so far in the lastest report.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/bessent-says-us-seized-nearly-500m-iranian-crypto-operation-economic-fury-sends-regime-crisis