US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday, October 8, that the United States would “probably” seize a billion dollars in cryptocurrency “this week”, as part of tougher sanctions against Iran. He was speaking in Washington, questioned by Greta Van Susteren at Newsmax's NPolicy Summit, Journal du Coin reports. At this stage, this is an announcement: the source does not report any seizure having been carried out.

What was announced

According to the remarks as reported in French by Journal du Coin, Scott Bessent said: “We are probably going to seize a billion dollars in cryptocurrency this week. […] we know where it is, and we are isolating them.” The outlet presents these digital assets as belonging to Iran and speaks of an “imminent” seizure, but the quoted statement contains a “probably”: it is an expressed intention, not an established fact.

This crypto component is part of what the Treasury Secretary calls a “campaign of absolute isolation”. “We had a maximum pressure campaign. Now we have an absolute isolation campaign, and it is working,” he said. Still according to the source, the measures described combine military action, maritime blockades, flight restrictions and the closure of land routes. Pakistan and Turkey are reportedly being enlisted to cut off the country's land routes, while Scott Bessent describes the United Arab Emirates and Oman as “good partners”.

Traceability: what the source says, and what it does not

The phrase “we know where it is” is the only part of the reported statement that touches on where the funds are located. The article does not specify which cryptocurrencies are involved, on which platforms or addresses they are said to be held, how the Treasury is said to have identified them, or under what procedure the seizure would be carried out. Nor does it offer any comparison with previous seizures, which makes it impossible to place this one-billion-dollar figure relative to other operations.

On the use of cryptocurrencies to circumvent sanctions, the source provides no figures. It does, however, raise an open question: it remains to be seen, Journal du Coin writes, whether this isolation will have the intended effect “or whether it will push Iranian flows towards even more opaque channels”. Two readings therefore coexist: that of Scott Bessent, who asserts that the campaign “is working”, and that of a possible shift in flows, raised by the outlet without figures to back it up. Journal du Coin also notes that a Democratic senator is demanding answers from Tether about its ties to Cantor Fitzgerald, a sign, it says, that scrutiny of the financial sector is intensifying.

Oil and Bitcoin: the reported market effect

Journal du Coin links this escalation to market nervousness. The outlet says Bitcoin “climbed back to $82,000 after a Trump message about Iran” and that it “was stabilizing around $82,000” this week. The source gives neither the level from which Bitcoin climbed back nor the content of that message: on this basis, it is not possible to measure the size of the move, nor to attribute any price movement to Scott Bessent's announcement.

On energy, oil “moved back above $102 this week”, according to the source, which specifies neither the benchmark concerned nor the starting level. Scott Bessent further asserts that Iranian oil exports will stop entirely: “For the first time since it began producing oil, Iran will have no barrels on the water to sell.” The outlet itself stresses that this scenario “remains, for now, a projection”.

Geneva mentioned, with no specific measure

Switzerland features in the Treasury Secretary's remarks. Referring to the flight restrictions, he said that members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would no longer be able to reach “their plastic surgeon in London, their girlfriend in Paris, or their money in Geneva”. The article does not say whether assets located in Switzerland are targeted by concrete measures, nor whether the announced cryptocurrency seizure involves players or platforms in Switzerland.

As things stand, the only available reference points are an amount (one billion dollars), a timeframe (“this week”) and an adverb (“probably”). The real scope of the operation can only be assessed once the seizure has been confirmed.

Sources

Journal du Coin, « Sanctions contre l'Iran : Les USA préparent la saisie de 1 milliard de $ en cryptomonnaies », published on October 9, 2026.