Recently, ibena reported that the U.S. Federal Government had confiscated 500 BTC belonging to Iranians — valued at 25 billion rials at the time of purchase.

The exact reason for the confiscation is unclear, though some speculate it has to do with Iranian bitcoin holders evading imposed U.S. sanctions.

Sepehr Mohammadi, the head of  Iranian’s Blockchain Association, stated that confiscation had begun last year and was still continuing. He underscored the sentiment held by many when he expressed to ibena that “some people believe that this confiscation is because of circumventing U.S. sanctions by bitcoin holders.”

Mohammadi further explained that the total amount of assets confiscated by the Federal government was unclear but that it was at least 500 bitcoins (and counting). This represented a net purchase value of 25 billion rials — or about USD 5.77 million.