Recent US and Israeli attacks on Iran have drawn new attention to a financial network Tehran has built alongside its battered banking system: bitcoin mining and a fast-growing stablecoin economy.
Iran legalized crypto mining in 2019, allowing licensed operators to use subsidized electricity in exchange for selling mined BTC to the central bank. Bitcoin has served as a tool to pay for imports and settle trade outside the dollar system, albeit indirectly.
Estimates in recent years have put Iran’s share of global bitcoin mining power between 2% and 5%, although much of the activity operates out of public view.
Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis found Iran’s crypto ecosystem to reach $7.78 billion by 2025, growing faster than the previous year. That number is as large as the GDP of some smaller countries such as the Maldives or Liechtenstein.
Activity often spikes around military clashes and domestic unrest, including last year’s 12-day conflict with Israel, according to Chainalysis.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the primary branch of the country’s military, has since expanded its role in space. Chainalysis estimates IRGC-affiliated addresses accounted for more than 50% of total Iranian crypto inflows in the fourth quarter of 2025, with over $3 billion in value received last year.
These numbers only reflect wallets publicly linked to sanctions lists, suggesting the true footprint may be larger.
Adoption mechanics
Stablecoins also play a key role.
Separate analysis by Elliptic found that Iran’s central bank accumulated at least $507 million in USDT by 2025, which is likely to stabilize rial and fiat trading. This effort has mostly failed, with data showing that the rial has lost more than 96% of its value against the USD.
At the same time, ordinary Iranians have turned to bitcoin. During the recent protests and an internet blackout, withdrawals from local exchanges to personal wallets increased significantly.
Read more: Iran’s Rial Collapse Mirrors Lebanon’s Crisis, Drives Citizens to Bitcoin
If conflict disrupts power grids, mining production could drop in the short term. The Iranian state is believed to mine BTC at around $1,300 per coin, which it then sells at current market prices. It is unclear whether the government has maintained any bitcoin reserves, as there is no financial dashboard and no official disclosure of holdings.
In practice, mining turns cheap domestic energy into an asset that can move across borders. A licensed miner mints new bitcoin and then sends them to Iran’s central bank. The bank can then transfer it to an overseas counterparty to pay for machinery, fuel or consumables without routing funds through US-controlled banks.
While the transactions are settled on a public blockchain, the counterparties can remain opaque.
The same pattern appears in stablecoins. USDT, which is pegged to the dollar, has become a standard settlement tool in sanctioned economies because it offers price stability and faster transfers than bitcoin.
However, it is not always easy to hide such transactions. Crypto exchange Binance recently found itself embroiled in allegations that it fired investigators who raised concerns about funds moving through the exchange to sanctioned, Iran-linked entities. This led nine US Senate Democrats to ask the Treasury Department and the DOJ to investigate Binance’s illegal financial controls.
Geopolitical risks
Chain analysis data shows that Iranian crypto activity correlates with political flashpoints, including missile exchanges and internal protests. During periods of turmoil, currency outflows increase as users withdraw money into private wallets.
For the IRGC, crypto offers another channel to move value across its network of affiliates and commercial fronts. Chainalysis reported that inflows to IRGC-related addresses reached $2 billion in 2024 and exceeded $3 billion in 2025.
The renewed military campaign, which has seen the IRGC retaliate against US bases in various countries in the Middle East, adds a new risk to this system. Large mining operations require constant power. Iran has previously introduced seasonal bans to ease the load on the grid.
A sustained conflict that damages infrastructure could reduce the hashrate or mining capacity tied to the country, though the global bitcoin network is likely to adapt over time as miners elsewhere catch on.
