Arkham says it has published a public onchain map of crypto wallets linked to Central Bank of Iran, making two US-sanctioned Tron addresses searchable for investigators and the broader public.
The move could increase scrutiny over how Iranian-linked organizations use stablecoins and blockchain networks to move funds outside the traditional banking system, as US authorities ramp up sanctions enforcement tied to terrorism financing and oil-related revenue flows.
In a research post published May 11, Arkham grouped the wallets into a dedicated Central Bank of Iran entity page and blockchain explorer. According to the company, the tool can serve as a starting point for tracing related wallet activity and connected fund flows.
The mapping is based on two TRC-20 wallets that the Office of Foreign Assets Control added to its Specially Designated Nationals list on April 24. US authorities identified the addresses as property of Bank Markazi Jomhouri Islami Iran and alleged links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and Hezbollah.
US authorities froze roughly $344 million in crypto tied to Iran as part of the sanctions action, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying the move was intended to “systematically degrade Tehran’s ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds.”
Tether separately confirmed it froze the assets at the request of US authorities over “activity tied to unlawful conduct,” though the company did not explicitly mention Iran in its public statement.
The wallet mapping by Arkham reflects a broader effort by blockchain intelligence firms and stablecoin issuers to identify and disrupt sanctions evasion networks increasingly operating through crypto infrastructure linked to TRON and Tether.
In an April 27 report, Chainalysis described a multi-step stablecoin pipeline allegedly used to move Iranian oil revenues through brokers, intermediary wallets, crosschain bridges, and decentralized finance protocols before funds eventually returned to accounts associated with the Central Bank of Iran and entities linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The findings also come amid growing crypto adoption in Iran more broadly. A February report citing estimates from TRM Labs and Chainalysis estimated the country’s crypto transaction volume at roughly $11.4 billion in 2024 and $10 billion in 2025.
In May, Nobitex — Iran’s largest crypto exchange — was reportedly linked to members of a powerful family connected to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and described as a major bridge between domestic users and offshore liquidity.
Separately, reports in April suggested Iran was considering charging crypto-based tolls for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, potentially creating another revenue channel outside traditional banking systems.
Meanwhile, Cointelegraph reported Friday that Tether froze more than 500 million USDT over a recent 30-day period across Ethereum and Tron, with approximately $506 million frozen on Tron alone, according to BlockSec’s USDT Freeze Tracker.
A spokesperson for TRON told Cointelegraph that the network itself cannot directly monitor or block transactions, but pointed to the T3 Financial Crime Unit — a partnership between TRON, Tether, and TRM Labs launched in 2024 — as the primary mechanism for combating illicit activity. The spokesperson said the unit works with law enforcement agencies to freeze hundreds of millions of dollars tied to sanctioned entities and terrorism financing. Tether declined further comment.
