However the conflict with Iran is resolved, it is already possible to see one of its transformative effects: the weaponization of money. In the future, battles will be determined not simply by military assets but by the ability to freeze, redirect, or erase valuable digital tokens with a keystroke.
One of the sticking points in negotiations between Washington and Tehran concerns the release of billions in frozen Iranian funds held in international banking institutions. Less reported on has been the fate of $344 million in digital dollars issued by the dollar-pegged stablecoin company, Tether. The second amount is tiny in comparison with the first one, but the mechanism through which the funds were frozen and controlled is revealing. Action by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control effectively banned transactions involving key Iranian wallets. Tokens are on a screen but can’t be spent. If a legal claim currently being pursued in a US court prevails, they may even be zeroed out and recreated elsewhere.