Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence has reportedly blocked almost 10,000 bank accounts over suspicious foreign currency and cryptocurrency transactions. The action was carried out in collaboration with the country’s central bank.
9,219 blocked bank accounts
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry released a statement on Saturday saying it had blocked a number of bank accounts due to suspicious foreign currency and cryptocurrency transactions, local media reported. The ministry detailed:
A total of 9,219 bank accounts belonging to 545 individuals were blocked.
The statement added that the total value of the stalled transaction was more than 60 trillion Iranian tomans, or about $2 billion based on the daily dollar exchange rate in the Iranian open market. The Iranian currency recently hit a four-month low against the US dollar.
However, the ministry did not provide any details on the accounts or how much of the turnover was in digital currency.
The action of the Ministry of Intelligence was carried out on the orders of a judge and in collaboration with the country’s central bank. This was part of the Iranian government’s recent plan to crack down on illegal and unauthorized foreign currency and cryptocurrency transactions. In December last year, the ministry announced that it had frozen the bank accounts of more than 700 “illegal” currency traders in the country.
Meanwhile, Iran is also cracking down on unauthorized cryptocurrency mining. The authorities have shut down about 7,000 unauthorized mining facilities in the past two years. The Iranian government has also drafted new rules to increase penalties for illegal cryptocurrency mining, including additional fines and imprisonment.
