Iran Turns to Bitcoin, USDT to Dodge US Sanctions

Highlights

Iran's central bank is easing forex controls, letting exporters settle cross-border trade in Bitcoin and USDT.
TRM Labs estimates Iran's crypto ecosystem processed roughly $10 billion in 2025, with IRGC-linked wallets receiving over $3 billion.
Chainalysis says Iran's Revolutionary Guard now charges Gulf tankers a transit toll payable in stablecoins.
The shift shows Iran treating digital assets as working payment infrastructure rather than a speculative sideline.

Iran's central bank has quietly relaxed foreign-exchange controls, allowing exporters to settle cross-border trade using cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Tether's USDT, according to a Financial Times report published this week. The move comes as Washington's wartime sanctions and a naval blockade squeeze the country's access to hard currency and the traditional banking system. Rather than treating digital assets as a niche workaround, Tehran now appears to be building crypto into its official payment infrastructure, encouraging companies to repatriate foreign earnings by whatever channel is available. Blockchain analytics firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis, both of which track Iran's on-chain activity for sanctions-compliance purposes, say the shift is already visible in transaction volumes tied to state-linked wallets.

Iran's Central Bank Eases Currency Controls

The relaxed rules mark a departure from Iran's traditionally tight grip on foreign-exchange flows, which has historically forced exporters to repatriate hard currency through official, heavily monitored channels. Allowing settlement in Bitcoin and USDT instead gives businesses a path around both the domestic banking system and the international correspondent-banking network that enforces US sanctions. It also signals that Tehran views crypto rails as reliable enough, at scale, to anchor part of its trade-finance system rather than as an emergency-only tool.

Inside the Numbers: TRM Labs and Chainalysis Data

TRM Labs estimates Iran's crypto ecosystem processed roughly $10 billion in inbound and outbound volume in 2025, down slightly from about $11.4 billion in 2024 but essentially unchanged in scale despite tightening enforcement. The firm's research shows illicit flows made up just under 6% of that total, or roughly $580 million, with stablecoins — overwhelmingly USDT — used for the bulk of sanctions-evasion transactions because their dollar backing preserves value while offering settlement liquidity that Bitcoin can't match at scale. Wallets linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) alone received more than $3 billion in 2025, roughly half of Iran's entire crypto ecosystem by transaction share, per TRM Labs' tracking. In a separate analysis, Chainalysis documented an even more literal use case: IRGC-linked intermediaries now charge tankers loading Iranian crude in the Gulf a transit toll of roughly $1 per barrel, payable in yuan or stablecoins, across a fleet currently holding an estimated 175 million barrels. Both firms describe the pattern as structural rather than a one-off: even during the acute stress of the June 2025 conflict with Israel, Iran's on-chain crypto activity grew by more than a third in dollar terms, consolidating into fewer, larger transfers consistent with capital-flight and reserve-protection behavior rather than retail speculation.

What It Means for Crypto Markets and Regulation

For the broader crypto market, Iran's pivot is less a price catalyst than a policy signal — a reminder to exchanges, stablecoin issuers and Western regulators that sanctioned states are treating blockchain rails as durable financial infrastructure rather than an emergency escape hatch. Tether has faced years of scrutiny over whether USDT's dollar-pegged liquidity makes it a convenient tool for exactly this kind of state-level sanctions evasion, and reporting like this is likely to intensify pressure on Tether, Circle and exchange operators to tighten screening of Iran-linked wallets and OTC desks. It also complicates the political case for a lighter US regulatory touch on stablecoins: lawmakers pushing the CLARITY Act and GENIUS Act frameworks have to square looser domestic rules with evidence that the same rails are being used by IRGC-linked actors to fund weapons procurement and evade oil sanctions. Historically, disclosures like this have preceded fresh Treasury action — the department has already sanctioned exchanges including Nobitex, Shelbit and Aban Tether this year for enabling Iranian sanctions evasion. For Bitcoin specifically, the story reinforces its role as a censorship-resistant settlement asset even as the data shows Tehran overwhelmingly prefers stablecoins for scale — a split that mirrors how legitimate and illicit crypto users alike increasingly favor USDT's liquidity over BTC's volatility for payments.

What to Watch Next

Watch for the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control to respond with further designations targeting Iranian exchanges or the specific wallets TRM and Chainalysis have already flagged — the department's pattern this year has been to act within weeks of major sanctions-evasion reporting. Also worth tracking: whether Tether moves to freeze or blacklist any newly identified Iran-linked addresses, a step it has taken selectively in the past under US pressure. On the compliance side, exchanges and OTC desks serving Middle Eastern corridors are likely to face fresh due-diligence demands as US authorities push to close the gap between crypto's payment convenience and its sanctions-evasion risk. The bigger question is whether Iran's model — treating stablecoins as functioning payment rails rather than a black-market curiosity — becomes a template other sanctioned economies increasingly follow.

FAQ

What did the Financial Times report say about Iran and crypto?
The FT reported that Iran's central bank has relaxed forex controls and is allowing exporters to settle cross-border trade in Bitcoin and USDT to offset the impact of US sanctions and a wartime blockade.

How much crypto volume is linked to Iran's sanctions evasion?
TRM Labs estimates Iran's crypto ecosystem processed roughly $10 billion in 2025, with IRGC-linked wallets receiving over $3 billion and illicit flows making up about 6% of total activity.

Why does Iran prefer USDT over Bitcoin for these transactions?
According to TRM Labs, USDT's dollar backing preserves value while offering the liquidity needed to settle large transactions at scale, making it more practical than Bitcoin for state-level payments.

What is the Strait of Hormuz crypto toll?
Chainalysis found that IRGC-linked intermediaries charge tankers loading Iranian oil in the Gulf roughly $1 per barrel in transit fees, payable in yuan or stablecoins.