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The National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing of Israel (NBCTF) has published a database of 187 cryptocurrency addresses it says are linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a radical sanctioned and designated arsenic violent by the U.S., EU, U.K. and Canada.
According to blockchain analytics steadfast Elliptic, those addresses collectively received $1.5 cardinal successful USDT, Tether’s dollar-pegged stablecoin. However, Elliptic cautioned that it cannot verify that each these funds are straight connected to the IRGC, since immoderate wallets whitethorn beryllium to exchanges oregon services utilized by aggregate customers.
The usage of USDT exposes specified wallets to 1 of Tether’s astir almighty compliance tools: blacklisting. Of the 187 addresses flagged by Israel, 39 person already been frozen by Tether arsenic of September 13, preventing further transfers of astir $1.5 cardinal successful USDT.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has been tied to illicit crypto enactment for years. Just past week, the U.S. Justice Department seized astir $600,000 successful USDT from an Iranian nationalist accused of gathering drone navigation systems for the IRGC.
In December 2024, U.S. Treasury sanctions targeted wallets linked to IRGC networks moving much than $300 cardinal successful stablecoins via an intermediary connected to Yemen’s Houthis.
And successful June 2025, the pro-Israel hacker radical Gonjeshke Darande (“Predatory Sparrow”) stole $90 cardinal from Iranian crypto speech Nobitex, which Elliptic and others person linked to IRGC activities including ransomware operations. The hackers “burned” the stolen funds successful vanity wallets marked with anti-IRGC slogans, and adjacent leaked Nobitex’s root code.
The hack was seen arsenic a hammer stroke to Iran, which is alleged to person utilized crypto to evade sanctions.
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