US Treasury Sanctions Tron Wallets Linked to Houthis

In Brief:

The US Treasury has sanctioned 8 Tron wallets used by Houthi-linked financial networks.

The wallets transacted with USDT and were tied to a network that sourced weapons and goods from Russia.

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The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added eight Tron wallet addresses to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. These wallets are connected to a financial network supporting the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen.

The group has carried out attacks against Israel and commercial vessels in the Red Sea. According to the Treasury, the sanctioned network used these wallets to fund the purchase of commodities from Russia, including weapons, stolen Ukrainian grain, and sensitive goods destined for Houthi-controlled areas.

The wallets were tied to Sa’id al-Jamal, an Iran-based financial operator previously designated as a global terrorist. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emphasized the importance of cutting off funding routes to degrade the Houthis’ military capacity.

These sanctions, enacted under Executive Order 13324, block all assets under U.S. jurisdiction linked to the listed wallets and prohibit U.S. entities from transacting with them.

According to Tron blockchain explorer TokenView, the sanctioned wallets were active since 2023, conducting large transactions in USDT, including amounts over $1 million. Tether, the issuer of USDT, did not immediately comment on whether it will block the wallets. The company has blacklisted over 2,100 addresses in previous actions.

This move continues a broader U.S. strategy of targeting crypto addresses linked to terrorism. Similar designations have previously been applied to addresses tied to Hamas and Russian extremist groups.

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