Iran Eases Cryptocurrency Regulations, Seeking a Breakthrough in Sanctions

Iran has been trying for years to establish a financial system that can bypass sanctions, including the use of cryptocurrencies. Although the United States and Europe have started to block entities involved in cryptocurrency transactions with Iran, they still cannot prevent cryptocurrencies from being used by Iran for cross-border transactions.

Reports indicate that Iran is allowing businesses to use USDT and Bitcoin to complete some cross-border transactions, while also allowing exporters to use overseas revenues more flexibly, including direct payments for import goods without having to go through the official foreign exchange system entirely.

In 2019, Iran officially recognized the cryptocurrency mining industry and subsequently established a licensing system requiring miners to pay electricity fees according to regulations and sell mined Bitcoin to the Central Bank of Iran.

Blockchain analysis firm Elliptic estimated in a 2021 study that about 4.5% of global Bitcoin mining activity was occurring in Iran at that time. Based on the mining scale and price at the time, the annual revenue was close to $1 billion.

Iran has oil and gas, but energy exports and banking payments are restricted by sanctions. By mining, Iran can utilize its domestic energy to obtain Bitcoin, which can then be used to pay for imported goods, reducing reliance on sanctioned banking payment channels.

Moreover, this method of indirectly selling energy through mining and circumventing trade and payment restrictions is also being implemented by Russia.

In addition to mining, cryptocurrencies are also being used to transfer oil sales revenue. In September 2025, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned two Iranian financial figures and related companies, accusing them of arranging over $100 million in cryptocurrency purchases for the Iranian government's oil sales and transferring funds through a network of offshore companies.

By June 2026, the U.S. again sanctioned four Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges: Nobitex, Bitpin, Ramzinex, and Wallex. U.S. officials accused these platforms of assisting in sanction evasion and facilitating transactions related to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Among them, Nobitex was also accused by the U.S. Treasury of helping the Central Bank of Iran acquire hundreds of millions of dollars in stablecoins to support the rial exchange rate and assisting personnel related to the Iranian regime in accessing overseas cryptocurrency exchanges and transferring funds.

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