According to the head of Iran's Blockchain Association, over 500 BTC belonging to Iranians were confiscated by the U.S. government last year, and the number is still rising. He explains that Iranians are unable to take action through proper channels from within their country due to Iran's legal status of cryptocurrency.

Iranians' 500 BTC Seized by US Government

Sepehr Mohammadi, the president of Iran's Blockchain Association, told Ibena news outlet last week:

Last year, a remarkable volume of bitcoins which belonged to some Iranians were confiscated for unspecific reasons by the federal government of the United States, and the process of confiscation is still continuing.

He admitted that the exact number of confiscated BTC "is not clear, but it is expected to be over 500 bitcoins, worth approximately 25 billion tomans ($5.77 million)" at the time, the publication quoted him.

"Some people believe that this confiscation is because bitcoin owners were circumventing U.S. sanctions," Mohammadi added.

Recently, news.Bitcoin.com reported that the government of Iran is considering using cryptocurrencies to evade long-held U.S. economic sanctions. Mohammad Reza Pour-Ebrahimi, the chairman of the Iranian Parliament's Economic Commission, said in an interview with Mizan news agency on July 15 that digital currencies are among the major mechanisms that Iran can use to the evade the sanctions. He noted that the Iranian parliament will soon discuss this issue.