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Flows into Iranian crypto trading platforms have fallen in 2025 due to a breakdown in nuclear negotiations with Israel, a $90 million hack on Iran\u2019s largest crypto exchange, and a major stablecoin blacklisting, says blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs.<\/p>\n
Iranian crypto flows hit $3.7 billion between January and July, an 11% decrease compared to the same period last year, with the worst drop off coming in June and July, TRM Labs said<\/a> in a report on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cThis downturn coincided with a breakdown in nuclear negotiations, a 12-day conflict with Israel beginning June 13, and widespread power outages in Iran \u2014 driven by a combination of Israeli kinetic and cyber operations, as well as regime-initiated shutdowns.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Iran\u2019s crypto flows started to sharply drop in June, just after the $90 million hack on Nobitex, which handles 87% of the country\u2019s crypto transactions.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many Iranians rely on US dollar stablecoins as a store of value amid skyrocketing inflation and to skirt tough sanctions on the country, which has largely cut it off from the global economy.<\/p>\n Confidence in Iran-based virtual asset service providers (VASPs) deteriorated following Nobitex\u2019s security breach,<\/a> which came at the hands of pro-Israel group Predatory Sparrow<\/a> on June 18 \u2014 when tensions between Iran and Israel were at their peak.<\/p>\n While Nobitex continues to dominate Iran crypto transaction volume, the incident disrupted liquidity, slowed transaction processing and temporarily pushed users toward alternative platforms, TRM said.<\/p>\n Heightened Iran-Israel tensions further amplified the outflows, which surged more than 150% in the worst week and a large percentage of that volume headed to high-risk foreign exchanges with little to no Know Your Customer checks<\/a>, TRM said.<\/p>\n Stablecoin issuer Tether also carried out its largest-ever freeze of Iranian-linked funds, blacklisting 42 crypto addresses with Tether (USDT<\/a>) balances on July 2.<\/p>\n The incident sparked a coordinated push from Iranian exchanges, influencers and state-backed channels for users to offload their TRON-based USDT balances<\/a> \u2014 Iran\u2019s most widely used network and token \u2014 and move funds into Dai (DAI<\/a>) on Polygon.<\/p>\n Related: <\/strong><\/em>UAE reportedly holds $700M in mined Bitcoin: Arkham<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Many everyday Iranians continue to turn to crypto as a hedge against inflation,<\/a> TRM said, highlighting Iran\u2019s strong reliance on stablecoins.<\/p>\n Iran is still relying on crypto to pay for sensitive goods from Chinese chip resellers, including hardware critical for artificial intelligence, drone components, and other electrical equipment \u2014 enabling it to effectively bypass sanctions,<\/a> TRM noted.<\/p>\n It has also used crypto to fund espionage payments with foreign operatives, the crypto analytics firm added.<\/p>\n However, illicit crypto transactions in Iran still only account for less than 1% of total volume.<\/p>\nNobitex hack big contributor to Iran\u2019s crypto shake-up<\/h2>\n
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nTether\u2019s blacklisting slowed flows<\/h2>\n
Iran continues to use crypto for political objectives<\/h2>\n