The U.S. government last year confiscated a significant number of bitcoins belonged to Iranians for unspecific reasons, Ibena news outlet reported citing the president of Iran's Blockchain Association.
The exact number of confiscated bitcoins is not clear, but it is estimated to be over 500 bitcoins worth approximately 25 billion tomans or $5.77 million.
According to Sepehr Mohammadi, the process of confiscation is still continuing, but it's challenging for the Iranian citizens to recover their coins. The affected people are not able to take any legal action against US from their country as cryptocurrencies are banned there.
In the report, he noted that Iran's Blockchain Association has done necessary measures to remove bitcoin confiscation, and negotiated with some experienced attorneys. But they are yet to find a legal expert to handle the case. Also, the police has not taken any action due to the cryptocurrency ban.
"Some people believe that this confiscation is because bitcoin owners were circumventing U.S. sanctions," Mohammadi said.
The chairman of the Iranian Parliament's Economic Commission, Mohammad Reza Pour-Ebrahimi, reportedly said that cryptocurrencies are among the major mechanisms that the country can use to evade long-held U.S. economic sanctions. According to him, more than $2.5 billion has been sent out of the country for buying digital currencies even though few people in Iran are cryptocurrency users.
In April, Iran's Central Bank banned the country's banks and financial institutions from dealing with cryptocurrencies, saying the coins have the capacity to be turned into a means for money laundering and financing terrorism.
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