TLDR
- Iran’s central bank is allowing businesses to use Bitcoin and USDT for cross-border payments as foreign exchange controls ease
- Around $10 billion in crypto flowed through Iran in 2025, with Iran accounting for roughly 4.5% of global Bitcoin mining
- The US Treasury froze $344 million in USDT from an Iran-linked wallet in April and sanctioned four major Iranian exchanges in June
- Tether froze $131 million linked to Iran’s central bank after OFAC updated its sanctions list in July
- The US has frozen or seized over $1 billion in Iran-related crypto assets in 2026 alone
Iran is now openly letting its businesses use Bitcoin and Tether’s USDT to handle cross-border payments. The country’s central bank has encouraged companies to bring overseas funds home through local crypto exchanges over the past several months.
JUST IN: 🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran is using crypto including Bitcoin and USDT to bypass US sanctions, FT reports. pic.twitter.com/zkCugxSQVu
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) September 9, 2026
A corporate executive close to the Iranian government said the central bank no longer asks how funds are being transferred. Receiving export payments in cryptocurrency has become routine for Iranian businesses.
Iran’s Growing Crypto Footprint
Roughly $10 billion in cryptocurrency moved through Iran in 2025. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic estimates Iran accounts for about 4.5% of global Bitcoin mining activity.
The IRGC relies on subsidized electricity to mine crypto. Researchers describe this as converting energy directly into currency that is difficult to sanction.
Iran’s crypto ecosystem was valued at over $7.8 billion last year. Addresses linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps made up roughly half of all on-chain activity in the final quarter of 2025.
An estimated $4.18 billion in crypto funds left Iran in 2025, up 70% from the year before. Around $3.84 billion of that has passed through local exchange Nobitex since 2019.
Leaked documents tracked by Elliptic show Iran’s central bank purchased $507 million in USDT. The funds were used to intervene in exchange rates and support the rial, which has lost nearly 90% of its value due to sanctions and inflation.
US Crackdown in 2026
The US has moved against Iran’s crypto activity several times this year. In April, Operation Economic Fury froze $344 million in USDT from an Iran-linked Tron wallet.
In June, the Treasury sanctioned four Iranian exchanges: Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex. Nobitex handles about half of Iran’s crypto trading and claims 11 million users.
In July, OFAC updated its sanctions list for Iran’s central bank and added four crypto wallet addresses holding $165 million in stablecoins. Tether froze $131 million of that amount.
In August, Treasury Secretary Yellen classified digital assets as a sanctionable sector in Iran. A Ukrainian intermediary suspected of processing over $100 million in crypto oil payments for the IRGC was also sanctioned.
Beyond oil and weapons, Iran has reportedly used crypto to charge tolls on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
More than 20,000 individuals and companies have failed to return roughly 94 billion euros in export revenues to Iran. Over 100 billion dollars in earnings remain unreported inside the country.
The US continues to use Tether’s freeze capability and blockchain analytics firms like Chainalysis and Elliptic to track and block Iran-linked wallets.
