Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced on Monday that it has ordered the seizure of 187 cryptocurrency wallets. The Ministry alleges these wallets belong to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.
In a document detailing the seizure order, the ministry’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing stated it is convinced that the cryptocurrency wallets are property of the IRGC and are being used for the perpetration of a severe terror crime. The IRGC is officially sanctioned as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, and Israel, among other countries.
According to the blockchain monitoring firm Elliptic, the named wallets have received a total of $1.5 billion over time in Tether’s stablecoin USDT. However, Elliptic’s co-founder and chief scientist Tom Robinson noted that the company cannot independently confirm whether the wallets truly belong to the IRGC. Robinson also clarified that the wallets currently hold only $1.5 million, which is a small fraction of the total funds that have moved through them.
Israel’s Ministry of Defense did not respond to requests for comment on how it established the link between the 187 wallets and the IRGC. In a blog post, Elliptic suggested that some of the addresses may be controlled by cryptocurrency services and could be part of wallet infrastructure used to facilitate transactions for many customers.
Amir Rashidi, the director of digital rights and security at the Iran-focused nonprofit Miaan Group, said it is possible Israel discovered information about these wallets by hacking into Iran’s infrastructure. Rashidi added that there were always rumors that the IRGC was using cryptocurrency to circumvent international sanctions.
He further explained that many of these cases might involve exchanges that are not directly part of the IRGC but are connected to it, similar to many banks, financial institutions, or private companies with ties to the organization.
This is not the first time Israel, or groups aligned with it, has targeted Iranian government cryptocurrency holdings. On June 18, during a period of heightened conflict between Israel and Iran, a hacking group known as Predatory Sparrow, which is believed to have links to Israel’s government, hacked Iran’s largest crypto exchange, Nobitex. The hackers stole approximately $90 million worth of cryptocurrency and then destroyed the funds by sending them to inaccessible wallets.
Crypto intelligence firms Elliptic and TRM Labs have previously stated that Nobitex was used by the IRGC for its operations.