US Treasury Adds Digital Assets to Iran Sanctions Authority

The US Treasury has expanded its sanctioning power to explicitly cover Iran's digital asset sector, according to Decrypt's reporting. The move is part of a broader enforcement campaign the Treasury is calling 'Economic D-Day', which targets five sectors of Iran's economy: digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping. The new sanctioning authority for the crypto sector is now live.

The expansion marks a shift in how US financial enforcement reaches cryptocurrency activity. Where sanctions on traditional financial infrastructure have long targeted banks, payment systems, and commodity exchanges, this authority extends that reach to digital networks and the actors that operate within them.

According to Decrypt, the designation brings digital assets into the same enforcement frame as five other priority sectors for Iran policy. The Treasury's framing as 'Economic D-Day' signals an intensified campaign, though the specific mechanics of how the authority will be enforced, what compliance obligations it creates for exchanges and custodians outside the US, and how 'operating in Iran's crypto sector' is legally defined remain unclear from available reporting.